
Hi 



Studies in 

tt\e Teaching of Jesus 

and His Apostles 



Edward I. BosworrK 



■ 





Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Studies in the Teaching 

of 

Jesus & His Apostles 



Studies in the Teaching 

of 
Jesus <^ His Apostles 

By 
EDWARD I. BOSWORTH 



Mm 



. « . - ) ->« 



THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF 

V 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 
New York, 1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two CoFita Received 

OCT, 16 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS <2>XXo. No 

/g£zz 

COPY B. 



-&> 



% **° 



&* 



Copyright, 190 1, 

by 

The International Committee of 

Young Men's Christian Associations 

(2-0-P1089-9-01) 



Preface 



THESE are simple studies on important topics, and not a com- 
prehensive presentation of the teaching of Jesus and His apos- 
tles. In these studies the teaching of Jesus as presented in 
the Synoptic Gospels x and in John's Gospel will generally be separately 
considered in order justly to bring out the striking peculiarities of each 
presentation. The critical study of the sources of the Synoptic Gospels 
has not yet resulted in any theory which, in its application to details, 
has gained such general acceptance as to warrant its adoption in a work 
of this character. The teaching of the Synoptic Gospels will, there- 
fore, be considered as a whole. In the study of the teaching of the 
apostles such discrimination will be made between the different types 
of apostolic teaching as will serve to bring out the peculiarities of each, 
so providentially preserved in the New Testament, in so far as such 
peculiarities may become evident in the consideration of the particular 
themes selected for study. 

The general purpose, determining the whole plan of presentation, is 
to direct the student in his study of the text, and to furnish him such 
suggestions as will facilitate rather than prevent the true scholar's joy of 
independent discovery. The attainments and previous experience in 
Bible study of those who will use this book are so diverse that more of 
direct suggestion must be given than may seem to be demanded by 
the most advanced students, and more than will be demanded by the 
majority of students when systematic Bible study shall have become 
common in fitting schools and colleges. 

1 Matthew, Mark and Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because they present the 
life of Jesus from a common view-point. They are strikingly similar in subject-mat- 
ter and order of arrangement, while John's Gospel is constructed on an entirely dif- 
ferent principle. 



Studies in the Teaching of 
Jesus and His Apostles 

Part I 
Jesus* Conception of Himself and His Mission. 

Part I I 
The Apostolic Conception of Jesus and His Mission. 

Part III 
Jesus' Conception of the Disciple and his Mission. 

Part IV 

The Apostolic Conception of the Disciple and his 
Mission. 



PAGE 



Contents 

Preface . v 

PART I 

Jesus' Conception of Himself and 
His Mission 

STUDY 

I . Jesus' Announcement of His Messiahship .... I 

II. Jesus' Conception of the Kingdom of God ... 9 

III. Jesus' Conception of the Kingdom of God (concluded) . 16 

IV. Jesus' Conception of Himself and His Mission . • 23 
V. Jesus' Conception of Himself and His Mission (continued) 30 

VI. Jesus' Conception of Himself and His Mission (con- 
tinued) 37 

VII. Jesus' Conception of Himself and His Mission (con- 
tinued) 44 

VIII. Jesus' Conception of Himself and His Mission (con- 
cluded) 51 

PART II 

The Apostolic Conception of Jesus 
and His Mission 

STUDY PAGE 

IX. The Apostolic Consciousness 61 

X. The Apostolic Conception of the Life of Jesus . . 69 



XI. The Apostolic Conception of the Resurrected Christ . 76 
XII. The Apostolic Conception of the Resurrected Christ 

(concluded) ' . . . .83 

XIII. The Apostolic Conception of the Eternal Christ . .91 

XIV. The Apostolic Conception of the Significance of the 

Death of Jesus 99 

XV. The Apostolic Conception of the Significance of the 

Death of Jesus (concluded') 109 

PART III 

Jesus' Conception of the Disciple 
and his Mission 

STUDY PAGE 

XVI. Jesus' Conception of Men as Potential Disciples . . 115 
XVII. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple in Relation to Him- 
self 122 

XVIII. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple as a Son of the 

Heavenly Father 133 

XIX. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple jn his Relation to 

the Holy Spirit 137 

XX. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple in his Relation to 

his Fellow Disciples 144 

XXI. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple as a Man of Prayer . 152 
XXII. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple as a Man of Prayer 

(concluded) . .160 

XXIII. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple Extending the King- 
dom of God 168 

X 



XXIV. Jesus' Conception of the Disciple Extending the King- 
dom of God (concluded} 176 

Jesus' Conception of the Disciple and his Mission . 179 



PART IV 

The Apostolic Conception of the 
Disciple and his Mission 

STUDY PAGE 

XXV. The Apostolic Conception of the Disciple in the 

Church 185 

XXVI. The Apostolic Conception of the Relation of the 

Disciple to the Holy Spirit . ' . . . .192 
XXVII. The Apostolic Conception of the Disciple in the 

World . 199 

XXVIII. The Apostolic Conception of the Disciple in Eternity 207 

XXIX. A Statement of Personal Testimony . . . .214 

XXX. The Disciple Choosing his Life Work . . .216 



PART I 

JESUS' CONCEPTION OF HIMSELF 
AND HIS MISSION 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostfes 

Study I. — ^fz&us' &nnotmcement of Jjts Jftessiial)fis!)tp 

First Day : The Conception of Messiahship Current 
among the jews 

1. One of the great problems before Jesus was to correct and en- 
rich the conceptions of Messiahship current among the mass of His 
countrymen. These conceptions varied among different classes of 
society. All agreed in expecting Him to be King in the coming 
" Kingdom of God ; " but men's conceptions of this Kingdom varied 
as current ideas of heaven vary to-day, and naturally their conceptions 
of the King varied with their conceptions of the Kingdom. It is pos- 
sible to glean the principal features of this conception of Messiahship 
from the four Gospels and from other Jewish literature that has sur- 
vived. 

2. Read Matt. 2 : 3-6 and John 7 : 41, 42, to ascertain the pop- 
ular expectation regarding His birth-place, but see in John 7 : 27 in- 
dication of another view, unless, as is quite probable, this last passage 
simply means that He was expected to come forth suddenly from 
some unknown place of concealment. Note in Mark 9:11 whose re- 
incarnation was expected to precede Him, and compare Malachi 4 : 5 
as the basis of the expectation. 

3. His kingly functions were involved in the popular designation of 
Him as the " Anointed," the Hebrew form of which expression has 
furnished us the word "Messiah," and the Greek form, the word 
'* Christ." His royal lineage and office were expressed in the com- 
mon title, "Son of David." See Matt. 22:42; Mark 10:47; 
John 7 : 42. David had been promised the throne forever (2 Sam. 
7 : 12-16), and the Messiah, therefore, would necessarily be a Son of 
David. Cf. Is. 11 : 1, 10, remembering that "Jesse " was David's 
father. 

4. The Messiah was also currently called " Son of God" (Matt. 
16 : 16; 26 : 63). The nation had been accustomed to call itself 
" God's Son" (Hosea 1 : 10 ; 11 : 1), and to think of its great 
Messianic head as par excellence God's Son, as He is called in Ps. 2 : 
7-12. It needs to be borne in mind that among the Jews this expres- 
sion, " Son of God," was a mere official title, with little of the signifi- 
cance later given to it by the personality and teaching of Jesus. 

5. Note in John 7:31 that the Messiah was expected to do won- 
derful works, and in Matt. 3 : 7- 1 2 that He was expected, in a Mes- 
sianic judgment, to remove from the nation all that were morally 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

offensive. Yet see in Matt. 16 : 21, 22 that He was thought of, even 
by the best of the nation, as one who might act unwisely, and be set 
right by a trusty counsellor. Read carefully Matt. 22 : 43-46, not- 
ing that the Pharisaic theologian did not expect Him to be possessed 
of such dignity as would make it natural for David to call Him his 
"Lord." 

6. Other features of the popular Messianic expectation appear in 
Jewish literature of the day, outside the Old and New Testaments. It 
was expected that the Messiah would be attacked by a coalition of the 
heathen powers, but would overcome them (4 Esdras 13 : 8-1 1, 
32-48). After this conflict He would purify and rebuild Jerusalem 
(Psalms of Solomon 17 : 25-33), and call home to Palestine the 
Jews scattered over the world (Psalms of Solomon 11 ; 17 : 28-34). 
Then He would begin to administer His world-empire, or " Kingdom 
of God." The popular view was that this Kingdom would last for- 
ever (Psalms of Solomon 17 : ^ ; John 12:34), although another 
view, perhaps a little later, was that it would be of limited dura- 
tion. According to 4 Esdras 7 : 28, 29 the Messiah would die after 
four hundred years. 

7. It is to be said regarding these views that a degree of vagueness 
characterized them, and that each class probably emphasized those most 
attractive to it. The Pharisees, whose ideal was a social state in which 
every member would punctiliously conform to the rabbi's wearying 
multitude of interpretations of the Mosaic law, felt no great practical 
need of a Messiah, except in so far as a Messiah might prove service- 
able in fending off any who should interfere with the rabbi's purpose. 

The patriotic Zealot, whose watch-cry was " No leader but God," 
and who was ready on occasion to assassinate the obnoxious Roman 
official, longed for the Messiah as a deliverer from political bondage. 
Probably all classes, even the most pious, agreed in thinking of the 
Kingdom of God as (1) a political organization, (2) a strictly Jew- 
ish institution, and (3) as designed to give execution to the Mosaic 
law. The Messiah was the royal personage under whom these antici- 
pations would be realized. 

8. Among these intense, excitable, racially conceited Jews came 
Jesus with ideas of Messiahship and the Kingdom of God destined to 
seem to the Pharisee irreligious, to the Zealot unpatriotic, and to His 
best friends, for a time, painfully unintelligible and disappointing. 

As you worship your Lord to-day, think of Him as once really in 
this perplexing situation, praying much over it, and steadily facing the 
prospect of suffering inevitably involved in it. 

2 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study i.—^esttsi' Announcement of J>ta JHefisiaJjalnp 

Second Day: Jesus' Preliminary Concealment of His 
Messiahship according to the Synoptic Gospels 

i . It required the utmost tact and deftness on the part of Jesus to 
meet the situation outlined in yesterday's Study. His task was to 
modify, in fundamentally important particulars, religious ideas that 
seemed to those who held them sacred and God-given. The accom- 
plishment of such a task required time and the prolonged attention of 
the nation. An abrupt and clear proclamation of His Messiahship 
would have defeated His purpose. In response to such an announce- 
ment the more excitable elements in the nation might indeed have 
rushed to Him, but they would have immediately fallen away in a re- 
action of disappointment and impatience, when they discovered that He 
was not willing to be the kind of Messiah they were looking for, 
and He would have lost His opportunity to modify their moral ideals. 
The question to be raised to-day is this : Is there evidence in the Sy- 
noptic Gospels that Jesus concealed His consciousness of Messiahship 
from the nation for a considerable time after His first public appear- 
ance ? 

2. In the first place ascertain whether the passages which describe 
the baptism of Jesus, Matt. 3 : 13-17 ; Mark 1 : 9-1 1 ; Luke 3:21, 
22, necessitate the opinion that the heavenly announcement of Mes- 
siahship was made to any other than John and Jesus. Consider whether 
Jesus' first Galilean preaching, Mark 1 : 14, 15, contained an an- 
nouncement of His Messiahship. Note also Jesus' strenuous treatment 
of the statements made by demoniacs, Mark 3 : 1 1, 12, 1 : 34. 

3. Examine Mark 6 : 7-13 to see whether the first preaching of the 
Twelve included any proclamation of Jesus' Messiahship. Note par- 
ticularly Mark 8 : 29, 30 and Mark 9 : 9. 

4. Notice next the evidence in Mark 8: 27, 28 (Matt. 16 : 13, 
1 4) that well on in His ministry the friendly element in the nation 
considered Him to be only a prophet, and not the Messiah. If He had 
definitely announced Himself as the Messiah it would have been 
necessary to have accepted Him as such, or to have considered Him 
to be an impostor. It would have been impossible to regard Him as 
Elijah, for Elijah would surely not claim to be the Messiah. 

It is assumed that Jesus' favorite title, "Son of Man," was not 
a current Messianic designation, and that its constant use did not con- 
stitute a public declaration of Messiahship. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study I. — ^egtts' &tinatmcement of J)is jpteggtaMip 

Third Day : Jesus' Suggestion of His Messiahship ac- 
cording to the Synoptic Gospels 

i . Although Jesus scrupulously refrained from any public proclama- 
tion of His Messiahship, and suppressed all announcement of it on the 
part of others, He said and did many things calculated to attract the 
attention of the nation to Himself as a great prophet sent from God ; 
and these actions may well have led men here and there to wonder 
whether He would not turn out to be the Messiah. 

2. Examine the following typical passages and determine whether 
in any case He was understood distinctly and publicly to proclaim 
Himself the Messiah. Read Matt. 9 : 2-8, noting particularly what 
v. 8 represents to have been the effect upon the people. Read Matt. 
12:1-8, noting the assumption of superiority to David, the temple, 
and the sacred Sabbath law ; and determine whether the statements 
would necessarily be understood to be a formal declaration of Messiah- 
ship. Read also Matt. 12:28, 41, 42. Consider also the effect 
produced upon the nation by the miracles Jesus performed in connec- 
tion with these statements. There are statements in Matt. 10 and in 
13 : 4 1 , that are stronger than any cited above, but they were made 
privately to His disciples ; and, furthermore, since Matthew's arrange- 
ment seems to be logical rather than chronological, they may have 
been made late in His ministry when He was prepared to disclose His 
consciousness of Messiahship. 

3. Whatever be the impression made upon us by these and other 
passages, it is evident from Mark 8 : 27, 28 that, well on in His min- 
istry, the nation did not understand that He considered Himself to be 
the Messiah, and from Mark 8 : 30 it is evident that Jesus did not in- 
tend that they should. 

4. At the end of His public ministry, when He had done all He 
could to get before the nation His new conception of Messiahship and 
the Kingdom of God, He presented Himself in the capital in a way 
that constituted a dramatic, though tacit, proclamation of Messiahship. 
With this thought in mind read Luke 19 : 29-40. Note that it was 
still very difficult in the final trial to find evidence that Jesus had rep- 
resented Himself to be the Messiah, and that it was upon His own 
confession that He was finally convicted (Mark 14 : 55-64). 

5. State the reasons, as they now appear to you, for Jesus' pecul- 
iar method of procedure in the announcement of His Messiahship. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study I. — Jesus' Announcement of {us JHegfiitaljg&ip 

Fourth Day : Jesus' Preliminary Concealment of His 
Messiahship according to the Gospel of John 

i. The Gospel of John, at first glance, seems to represent Jesus as 
pursuing a policy in the announcement of His Messiahship quite differ- 
ent from that portrayed in the Synoptic Gospels. Upon closer in- 
spection the difference appears less marked. 

Here, too, there is some evidence of Jesus' desire to suppress all 
announcement of Messiahship. John the Baptist seems to have pro- 
claimed the Messiahship of Jesus to only a small inner circle of his 
own disciples (John I : 32-36). To the great body of them he spoke 
of Jesus in general terms, as one far superior to himself (John 1 : 26, 
27, 30). The designation, " Lamb of God" (1 : 29), whatever 
it may have meant to the Baptist's mind, could hardly have suggested 
Messiahship to the average man, engrossed in the kingly aspect of the 
current Messianic expectation. That the Baptist did not publish the 
Messiahship of Jesus to the main body of his disciples seems evident 
from John 3 : 22-26. Read this passage carefully, and note that the 
Baptist's disciples seemed surprised and displeased because Jesus was at- 
tracting more general attention than the Baptist. But if the Baptist 
had already proclaimed Jesus' Messiahship, they would have expected 
this to happen, and would have rejoiced in it. Nicodemus also saw 
in Jesus nothing more than a teacher sent from God (3 : 1, 2). 

We are to suppose that Jesus and the Baptist had many conferences 
with each other, and the supposition is near at hand that Jesus laid 
upon the Baptis-t the same strict prohibition of any public mention of 
His Messiahship that the Synoptic Gospels represent Him to have en- 
forced in the case of the demoniacs and the Twelve. Note in John 
3 : 22, 23 that the Baptist seems to have gone right on preaching the 
nearness of the Kingdom as he had done before Jesus appeared, and as 
Jesus himself did (Mark 1 : 14, 15). 

2. There is further evidence that Jesus, at a point well on in His 
ministry, had made no formal announcement of Messiahship. Read 
carefully John 1 o : 24, comparing it with the passage already studied 
in the Synoptic Gospels, Mark 8 : 27, 28. The reply of Jesus, 10 : 
25, 26, asserts that His conduct had been such as would have seemed 
to them Messianic, if their moral vision had been really clear ; but it 
is evident that there had been no formal presentation of Himself to the 
nation as Messiah, or they could not have asked the question. 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study I. — testis' &niumncement of |)isi JHeggialjfli^ip 

Fifth Day : Jesus' Announcement of His Messiahship 
according to the gospel of john 

1 . While the Gospel of John, in fundamental agreement with the 
Synoptic Gospels, represents Jesus as for a time repressing all formal 
proclamation of Messiahship, it contains certain distinct avowals of 
Messiahship that do not appear in the Synoptic Gospels. They are, 
however, either private, or, if public, not entirely free from obscurity, 
and are never a formal appeal to the nation. 

2. Note first the private announcements of Messiahship. Read 
John I : 35-51, and note the recognition of Jesus' Messiahship with 
which the first disciples gathered about Him, especially the encourage- 
ment He gave to Nathanael (49-51). 

3. If John 3 : 16-21 contains the words of Jesus, and is not a par- 
enthetical comment by the author of the Gospel, then in a private 
conversation with a Jewish senator Jesus plainly declared His Messiah- 
ship. In any case, vv. 13-15 are the words of Jesus. Consider 
whether Nicodemus would have understood them to be a declaration 
of Messiahship. 

4. Note in John 4: 25, 26 the unreserve with which Jesus ex- 
pressed Himself, still in private, to one far removed from Jewish 
respectability. Consider to what extent this declaration was further 
known in the locality (28-30, 39-42). 

5. Read in John 9 : 35-38 the account of His disclosure of Mes- 
siahship to another outcast. 

6. What considerations induced Jesus to make to these individuals 
the revelation of His Messiahship that He withheld from the nation as 
a whole ? 

"It is strange that Christ should often speak His most remarkable 
words to the least remarkable persons. Here is a woman who for 
one splendid moment emerges from the unknown, stands as in a blaze 
of living light, and vanishes into the unknown again. But while she 
stands she is immortalized, the moment becomes an Eternal Now, in 
which Christ and she face each other forever, He giving and she re- 
ceiving truths the world can never allow to die. ,, 

Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study I. — 3T**tici' Announcement of fyis ^egstaljglrip 

Sixth Day : Jesus' Announcement of His Messiahship 
according to the gospel of john (concluded) 

1 . In addition to the distinct announcement of Messiahship made to 
certain individuals, there is also less of reserve on this subject in His 
public utterances as recorded in the Gospel of John than appears in the 
Synoptic Gospels. He speaks of Himself as the " Son/' and of God 
as the " Father/ ' in a way that seems to be an application to Himself 
of the Messianic title, " Son of God. " Note instances of this in John 
5: 17-29. 

2. Just what significance the Jerusalem theologians attached to these 
references to God as His Father seems uncertain. Sometimes they 
pretended not to know whom He meant (8:19). At other times 
they called the expression the raving of a lunatic (10 : 20). Some- 
times it seemed to them a blasphemous implication of equality with 
God (5 : 17, 18 ; 10 : 30-33). Since their conception of Messiah- 
ship was a low one, possibly such assertions of special relationship to 
the Father, far exceeding what would have been involved in the mere 
official use of the title, would have seemed to them blasphemous even 
on the lips of one whom they had been inclined to accept as Messiah. 

3. The Johannine representation of Jesus, as speaking somewhat 
freely of His Messiahship, is almost wholly confined to the account of 
His Judean ministry, while the Synoptic presentation is mainly con- 
cerned with the Galilean ministry. Is there any probability that 
Jesus could safely speak of His Messiahship with greater freedom to 
the trained rabbis of Jerusalem, the theological leaders of the nation, 
than to the people of Galilee ? If so, why ? In this connection con- 
sider, as having a possible bearing upon the question, Luke 2 : 46-49 ; 
John 3 : 1, 2 ; 12 142, 43 ; Luke 23 : 50-53. Note also the light 
thrown on the Galilean temper by John 6 : 12-15. 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus ajid His Apostles 

Study I. — testis' Announcement of Ibis ^ilesifiiia[)fii|)ip 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i. The work of the week has introduced a topic of fundamental 
importance. The central event of all history is the entrance of Jesus 
into humanity's life. How could such a being, with standards of con- 
duct and aims so much higher than those of the men to whom He 
proposed to come so close, adjust Himself to them ? What would 
He have in common with them ? How would He make Himself 
known to them ? How would He proceed to transform their ideas 
without repelling them ? 

Review to-day the work of the week, and make your final state- 
ment of Jesus' method of procedure in the announcement of His Mes- 
siahship, and of the reason for it. 

"The greatest problems in the field of history center in the Person 
and Life of Christ. Who He was, and what He was, how and 
why He came to be it, are questions that have not lost and will not 
lose their interest for us and for mankind. For the problems that 
center in Jesus have this peculiarity : they are not individual, but 
general — concern not a person, but the world. How we are to judge 
Him is not simply a curious point for historical criticism, but a vital 
matter for religion. Jesus Christ is the most powerful spiritual force 
that ever operated for good on and in humanity. He is to-day what 
He has been for centuries — an object of reverence and love to the 
good, the cause of remorse and change, penitence and hope to the 
bad ; of moral strength to the morally weak, of inspiration to the de- 
spondent, consolation to the desolate, and cheer to the dying. He has 
created the typical virtues and moral ambitions of civilized man ; has 
been to the benevolent a motive to beneficence, to the selfish a per- 
suasion to self-forgetful obedience ; and has become the living ideal 
that has steadied and raised, awed and guided youth, braced and en- 
nobled manhood, mellowed and beautified age. In Him the Chris- 
tian ages have seen the manifested God, the Eternal living in time, the 
Infinite within the limits of humanity. . . . For the very great- 
ness of the work makes it the more necessary that we see the Worker, 
not as He lives in our faith and reverence, but as He lived on our com- 
mon earth ; a man looking before and after, speaking as a man, and 
spoken to by men. ... By all means let us get near enough 
to Jesus to see Him as He really was." 

Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus a?id His Apostles 



Study II.—%ft£>u&' Conception of tjje l&ingtoom of (Stiti 

First Day : Origin of the Expression and its Prom- 
inence in the Teaching of Jesus 

i. We have seen that Jesus could not proclaim Himself Messiah 
until He had endeavored to prepare the nation to receive such a Mes- 
siah as He was willing to be. The question that naturally arises, 
therefore, is, What kind of Messiah was He ? What did He con- 
ceive the chief business of a Messiah to be ? But Jesus' view of Him- 
self and of His mission can be rightly understood only when we see 
what His view of the Kingdom of God was. In studying the char- 
acter of a king, the first thing to ascertain is the ideal that he cher- 
ishes for his kingdom. It will then be in place to inquire by what 
course of action he proposes to realize his ideal, or what he conceives 
his chief business to be. 

2. The term "Kingdom of God" was current before John the 
Baptist and Jesus appeared. Read rapidly Daniel 7 : 1-18, which 
seems to indicate that the Kingdom was called God's Kingdom in 
contrast with the various world kingdoms with which the Jews had 
to do. 

3. In the Gospel of Matthew the expression '* Kingdom of God " 
occurs only a few times. Cf. Matt. 4: 17 with Mark 1 : 15, in 
order to ascertain the expression that most frequently occurs in Mat- 
thew. The expression found in Matthew is not found elsewhere in 
the New Testament. Note in Matt. 19 : 23, 24 the evidence that 
the two expressions are synonymous. 

4. According to the Synoptic Gospels, one or the other of these 
expressions was constantly upon the lips of Jesus. Glance rapidly at 
the following references in the Gospel of Matthew : 4:17; 5:20; 
6: 10, 33 ; 9: 35 ; IO: 7 ; 13 : II, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47 ; 
20 : 1 ; 22 : 2. 

5. Strangely enough, in the Gospel of John the expression occurs 
only in the passage 3 : 3-5. Do you see any reason for its absence in 
this Gospel ? Read John 20 : 3 1 , and see whether you detect there 
one of the characteristic words of the Gospel, that may possibly cor- 
respond to the idea expressed in the phrase " Kingdom of God." 

Read Luke 8:1, and try to realize something of the hope and en- 
thusiasm which Jesus felt, and desired to produce, as He told His 
synagogue audiences that the Kingdom of God was at hand. 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study II. — %z&\x&* Conception of tlje Kingdom of <3tfii 
Second Day : The Nationality of the Kingdom 

i. We have now to take up one by one a few of the principal 
features in Jesus' conception of the Kingdom. The first question is, 
Whom did He propose to have in the Kingdom ? Did He propose to 
admit any besides Jews ? The popular idea among the Jews was, that 
the Kingdom was a Jewish monopoly. Note the evidence in Acts 
1 1 : 1 8 and the preceding context, also in Acts 15:1, that, even 
some years after the resurrection, the apostles and other Christian Jews 
supposed that the Kingdom was only for the Jews and Jewish pros- 
elytes. 

2. First note the evidence that Jesus, for a time, confined the ef- 
forts of Himself and His disciples exclusively to the Jews. Read Matt. 
10 : 5, 6, remembering that there was a large Gentile population in- 
terspersed among the Jews in Palestine. Read also Matt. 15 : 21-24. 
What was the reason for this exclusiveness on the part of Jesus ? 

3. On the other hand, note the evidence that Jesus foresaw and 
planned a World-Kingdom in which all nationalities might find a place. 
Consider Jesus' conduct on certain occasions. Read Matt. 8 : 5-13, 
which describes His treatment of a Roman army officer, who, though 
not a Jew, was so enthusiastic an admirer of the Jewish religion that 
even the synagogue authorities respected him (Luke 7 : 3-5). The 
most significant feature of the incident is the remark concerning the 
Messianic banquet, attributed to Jesus by Matthew in this connection 
(8:11, 12). Who are the " sons of the Kingdom " in this pas- 
sage ? Why are they so called ? Notice in Matt. 15 : 28 that He 
finally made an exception to the exclusive principle in accordance 
with which He was acting at the time. What bearing, if any, has 
Matt. 13 : 38 upon this theme? 

4. Picture to yourself Jesus looking with powerful penetration 
through the centuries, and seeing the vision of a great World- Empire, 
even when His rejection by His own countrymen was a certainty to 
Him. Let the confidence of Jesus make you confident, as you look 
out upon the world in which the vision has not yet become a reality. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study II. — %zm& y Conception of tlje !& inborn of <3cto 

Third Day : The Nationality of the Kingdom ac- 
cording to the Gospel of John 

1. The references to a World- Empire become more frequent and 
clear in the record of the latter part of Jesus' ministry. Even when 
the sepulchre seemed, to His quick imagination, vividly opening before 
Him, and He felt that His body was being prepared for burial, note 
the confident thought that was uppermost in His mind according to 
Mark 14:9. Read also Matt. 24: 14, and the definite statement 
made by Him after the resurrection, Matt. 28 ; 19, 20 (Luke 24 : 
+7)- 

2. In the Gospel of John there is no such emphasis laid upon the 
Jewish character of His mission as in Matt. 10 : 5, 6. This Gospel 
was written late in the first century, at a time when the breadth of 
Jesus' plan had long been evident. He is represented as going freely 
to the Samaritans in one instance, and they recognize Him as "the 
Saviour of the world" (4: 39-42). The whole outlook of Jesus in 
chapters 14-17 is world-wide. His disciples are left in the " world" 
(17 : 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16), and are destined to affect the life of 
the " world " (17 : 23). 

3. Recur again to Jesus' strongly exclusive utterances, like Matt. 
10:5, 6, and note that He was simply continuing the policy God 
had long been carrying out. Paul, who in his own personal expe- 
rience passed out from extreme Jewish narrowness of view to 
great breadth of vision, looked over the long course of history, and 
discovered that the reason for God's temporary concentration of at- 
tention upon a few was that He might, in the end, more effectively 
include all (Rom. 11 : 32). Jesus seems to have adopted the same 
policy in selecting and training the Twelve. 

4. One of the most impressive features in the life and character of 
Jesus was the quiet confidence with which He held views that His 
immediate contemporaries failed to understand. When they failed to 
catch His conception of a non-Jewish World- Empire, He manifested no 
nervousness, but was tranquilly confident that in time they would un- 
derstand Him. The Deace of a soul that had come out of eternity 
seemed to be His. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study II. — $z8u&* Conception of t&e Ifting&om of <0o& 

Fourth Day : The Conditions of Entrance into the 
Kingdom according to the Synoptic Gospels 

i . We have seen that Jesus planned to have others besides Jews in 
His Kingdom, although His immediate contemporaries did not fully 
understand this. His radical views were more unmistakably evident 
in His friendly approach to certain classes of society contemptuously 
abandoned by the religious authorities of the day, and in His encour- 
agement of them to expect that they might find a place in the King- 
dom. The " submerged tenth " of that day were technically called 
" sinners." They had fallen away from the synagogue service, and 
were dropped from all reputable social life. They were the non- 
church-goers in a society in which church-going was the mark of 
respectability. Prominent among this class were the "publicans," 
persons who were willing to make money out of the humiliation of 
their nation by collecting taxes under the Roman government. Jesus 
entered so freely and genially into the social life of these persons, that 
His enemies characterized Him as the boon companion of such, and 
circulated the slanderous statement that He was over-fond of good 
food and fine wines (Luke 7 : 34). In further statement of Jesus' 
relation to these classes, summarize the information found in Mark 2 : 
13-17 ; Luke 15:1,2; 7 : 36-50 ; Matt. 21 : 31. 

2. Although Jesus seemed to the religious authorities so scandal- 
ously lax, He did make certain strenuous demands that seemed to Him 
more important than those made by the Pharisees (Matt. 5 : 20.) 

Consider the requirement made in the following passages : 
Matt. 4:17; 1 1 : 20 ; 12:41; Mark 6:7-12; Luke 13 : 1-5 ; 
15:7; 24 : 47. Write out such a definition of the word "repent" 
as you imagine Jesus would have given had He been asked for one, as 
was John the Baptist (Luke 3 : 8-10). Repent of what? How does 
it differ from remorse ? To what extent is it intellectual, and to what 
extent emotional ? 

3. Jesus' fundamental appeal was for an honest life, for a frank ad- 
mission of all the facts. Consequently, when He stood on the thresh- 
old of the Kingdom with this call for repentance, He was not making 
an arbitrary demand, but one, in the very nature of the case, essential 
to an honest life. The first fact to be frankly admitted is the fact of 
personal wrongdoing. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study II. — Degas' Conception of X\t fctngtoom of (£oii 

Fifth Day : Conditions of Entrance into the King- 
dom ACCORDING TO THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS (CONCLUDED) 

1 . Notice the fundamental condition implied in Matt. 7:21, and 
compare it with Matt. 6:10. What is the relation of this condition 
to "repentance," the condition discussed yesterday ? 

2. Consider the condition implied in Matt. 10 : 37—39 ; Luke 
14: 26, where being the Messiah's f * disciple " is equivalent to en- 
tering the Kingdom, for a " disciple," or " learner," is one who is 
learning from the Messiah how to live the daily life of His Kingdom. 
Naturally no one could find a place in the Kingdom, who would not 
yield supreme allegiance to the King. Since Jesus stands as the rep- 
resentative of His " Father," consider how this condition is related 
to the one mentioned in the last paragraph. 

3 . Consider the condition stated in Matt. 18:3; 19:14. What 
particular quality of childhood does the context of 18:3 indicate that 
Jesus had in mind ? 

4. The qualities specified in Matt. 5:2-12 are not so much con- 
ditions to be fulfilled in order to enter, as they are characteristics of life 
in the Kingdom. Jesus' frequent words of comfort for the poor, and 
of warning to the rich, might create the impression that poverty is a 
condition of admission, but closer examination does not corroborate the 
impression. Luke 6 : 20 does not say that only the poor, or those 
only poor, enter the Kingdom, and in Matt. 19 : 23, 24, where the 
difficulty of entering in is so strongly stated, it is said nevertheless to 
be possible. 

5. We are not to think of Jesus as standing at the door of the 
Kingdom trying to keep people out by establishing conditions hard to 
meet. He stands rather, now as then, inviting all men into His 
Kingdom, and merely pointing out, with unmistakable clearness, the 
way to attain the character that alone makes life in the Kingdom de- 
sirable. 



13 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study II._Jefi!ttfii , Conception of t&e fcmgftotn of (3ati 

Sixth Day : Conditions of Entering the Kingdom 
according to the gospel of john 

1. In the Gospel of John, as has already been seen, the expression 
"Kingdom of God" occurs in only one passage. Its place seems to 
be taken by the phrase "eternal life." See the trace of a similar 
identification in the Synoptic Gospels, Mark 9 : 45-47. 

2. In the one place in the Gospel of John where the phrase occurs, 
namely, 3 : 3-5, the condition of entering the Kingdom is stated in 
unique language. If, in this passage, instead of the expression "King- 
dom of God" we read "eternal life," its usual equivalent, the ap- 
propriateness of the language becomes evident. Entering the King- 
dom is beginning the eternal life, and the beginning of life is naturally 
called birth. In v. 5 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, represented by 
Nicodemus, for having rejected John the Baptist's water baptism 
(cf. Matt. 21 : 24, 25), which stood for repentance (Mark 1 :4). 
John had spoken of a water baptism and a Spirit baptism (Mark 1 : 
8), and Jesus here adopts and vindicates his message. " You should 
have repented and been baptized with John's water baptism, and have 
been waiting for the Spirit baptism." In other words, there is need 
of repentance and forgiveness for the sin of the past, and of association 
with the Holy Spirit of God in order to prevent sin in the future. 

3. The condition of entering the Kingdom is most frequently stated 
in the Gospel of John as "believing," the verb "to believe" oc- 
curring more than ninety times. Note especially 5 : 24 ; 6 : 40-47 ; 
9 : 35-38. The object of the "believing" is generally a person. 
Note the two persons specified in 5 : 23, 24 and 6 : 40. Why does 
belief in one involve belief in the other ? Cf. 12: 44. 

To believe in a person is to accept him as being what he represents 
himself to be, and to treat him accordingly. To believe in Jesus was 
to accept Him as what He represented Himself to be, namely, one 
sent out from God to reveal God, and, as soon as it became evident 
that He considered Himself the Messianic Son of God, to accept Him 
as such and to treat Him accordingly, namely, to worship Him. See 
again in 9 : 35-38 the vivid picture of a man in the act of beginning 
to believe in Jesus. What is it to worship Jesus ? Consider whether 
this condition differs essentially from those already stated. 



14 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study II. — ^fesus' Conception of tlje &tng;iiom of <3trti 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

1. Look back over the conditions of entrance into the Kingdom 
discovered in the work of the last three days, and see whether there 
is any one essential act common to them all. Then review all the 
Studies of the week, and gather up the principal points. 

2. Before turning from this study of the conditions of entrance into 
the Kingdom, consider the eagerness of Jesus to have men meet them. 
Read Luke 9:1-6 and 10 : 1-16, noting their strenuous tone. Im- 
agine the Twelve and the Seventy hurrying (10 : 4) from village to 
village, having caught something of their Master's eager sense of the 
nearness of the Kingdom. Imagine how Jesus felt while they were 
out, realizing, as others did not, the full significance of what was hap- 
pening in such an apparently casual way to these busy men and 
women of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Read Luke 10 : 12-16. Con- 
sider whether the situation is essentially changed to-day. 

" They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in mar- 
riage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood 
came and destroyed them all. Likewise even as it came to pass in the 
days of Lot ; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they 
planted, they builded ; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom 
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all : 
after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of Man 
is revealed. . . . But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your 
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of 
this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare : for so shall 
it come upon all them that dwell upon the face of all the earth. . . . 
And when He drew nigh, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 
If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong 
unto peace ! " — Luke 17 : 27-30 ; 21 : 34, 35 ; 19 : 41, 42. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study III. — ^rtfitts' Conception of i\t !&ins;&om of (3 tin 

( Continued ) 
First Day : The Righteousness of the Kingdom 

i . This subject will be discussed in detail in Part III. , which is 
devoted to Jesus' conception of the disciple and his mission. It is 
necessary here, however, to see in general what Jesus was aiming to 
secure, in order to understand what He thought the chief business of 
the Messiah ought to be. 

2. Everybody knew that the coming Kingdom of God would be 
one in which "righteousness " would prevail. Those who were 
chiefly anticipating its political freedom or its amelioration of unfavor- 
able social and industrial conditions, assumed, in theory at least, that 
only righteous persons would be found in it. It was to be a political 
and social organization of righteous Jews. 

3. The great unsettled question was, What constitutes a man 
righteous ? On this question Jesus held decided views. Examine His 
sharp criticism of the current Pharisaic theory of righteousness in Matt. 
5 : 20 ; 23 : 1-7 and 13-28, and ascertain what the fundamental dif- 
ficulty with the Pharisees was ; that is, what essential element of 
righteousness, as Jesus conceived it, they lacked. 

4. As a further illustration of the current Pharisaic conception and 
Jesus' criticism of it, study in Luke 18 19-14 the companion pictures 
drawn by Jesus, remembering that the words "unjust" and "justi- 
fied " represent Greek words that might be translated "unrighteous" 
and " to pronounce righteous." What essential element of right- 
eousness, according to Jesus' conception of it, did this Pharisee lack ? 

5. A part of the current Pharisaic conception of righteousness is 
seen in the Talmud to be the idea that each individual act of obedi- 
ence to law has in God's eyes a distinct value, to be balanced against 
definite acts of disobedience. God was like a great book-keeper, con- 
stantly watching men and keeping accurate account of their moral 
debits and credits. A certain rabbi is represented in the Talmud as 
uncertain how his account stood at the end of his life, and as giving 
half of his property to the poor in order to insure his entrance into the 
Kingdom (Weber, Die Lehren des Talmud). This throws light on 
the question attributed in Matt. 1 9 : 1 6 to the exemplary young man 
who sought to get, from one whom he regarded as a prophet, a pro- 
fessional opinion as to what was necessary in order to make the account 
balance in his favor. 

16 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

^^— ■—■— anmn^— ■itriiWiiiM i mim »f awin ii iii n ■■in— —————— — ■ 

Study III. — testis' Conception of tj)c J&ina&om of (55o& 

( Continued) 

Second Day : The Righteousness of the Kingdom 
(concluded) 

i. Jesus' criticism of the current Pharisaic conception of the right- 
eousness of the coming Kingdom has been considered, and there is 
need now to look directly for His own view. If it is correct to de- 
fine righteousness in general as the state of being rightly related to one's 
environments, namely, to God and man, the question is, What did 
Jesus consider to constitute such right relation ? Jesus' most direct 
reply to this question is found in Luke 10 : 25-28. These two 
commandments are said in Matt. 22 : 39 to be alike. Is it fair to 
say that obedience to either involves obedience to the other ? If a 
man is doing one, is he surely doing the other ? If Jesus had been 
content with something less fundamental than the production of this 
kind of righteousness in every individual, He might have established a 
Kingdom without suffering. 

2. Of course the question that at once arises is, Who may rightly 
be called my " neighbor" ? Must a man not do something in order 
to become my «« neighbor " ? Or may a man not do something by 
which he will forfeit his right to the title " neighbor " ? Study Luke 
10 : 29-37, and put Jesus' reply to the question in your own lan- 
guage. What bearing on the question has Luke 6 : 27-38 ? 

3. Note in passing that, as the expression " Kingdom of God," 
with one exception, does not appear in the Gospel of John, so the 
word " righteousness " is not used of the believer. The word 
which seems to take its place is found in 3 : 2 1 . 

4. An impressive feature of Jesus' conception of righteousness is 
the high place it gives to man. A man may have the same kind of 
righteousness that God has. Read Matt. 5 : 48. Righteousness is 
one thing everywhere in the moral universe, and he who has it is 
thereby made akin to that which is highest and best in the universe. 

" When shall all men's good 
Be each man's rule, and universal Peace 
Lie like a shaft of light across the land, 
And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, 
Thro' all the circle of the golden year ? " 

— Tennyson, The Golden Tear. 
17 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study III. — ^tmtf Conception of t&e fcinffoom of <3tto 

( Continued} 

Third Day : The Time of the Kingdom 

i „ When did Jesus expect His conception of the Kingdom to be 
realized ? Was it a present reality, or a future expectation ? These 
questions have occasioned perplexity and diversity of opinion. 

2. He most frequently spoke ol it as something future. Examine 
each of the following passages with care, inquiring in each case, 
whether the language implies that Jesus expected the Kingdom to be 
established in the future. Notice, more exactly, in each case, wheth- 
er it is the beginning of the Kingdom that is thought of as future, or 
whether it is some phase of a developing Kingdom, already begun, 
that is thought of as future. Perhaps the language will not enable 
you to tell in all cases. Examine first Matt. 6 : 10. Does " come " 
here mean "begin"? Examine Matt. 7:21-23. " Enter* ' it 
when ? What is meant by "that day " ? Examine Matt. 8:11, 
12. Is the Messianic banquet the beginning of the Kingdom ? Note 
here that the righteous dead are thought of as being present at the 
banquet. In Matt. 25 134 the "Kingdom " mentioned is evidently 
the Kingdom of God. Take account of the very distinct statement 
of Luke 19: 11 ff. What is meant here by the word « * appear ' ' ? 
Consider also Luke 21:31; 22:18. Do you think of any other 
passages that speak of the Kingdom as future ? 

3. Suspend the study at this point, and endeavor to bring yourself 
into sympathy with the profound enthusiasm and anticipation of Jesus, 
as He stood peering into the future and seeing that 

" far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves." 

Think of His solemn and inspiring pledge, as He stood, cup in hand, 
at the Last Supper (Luke 22 : 17-18). How great a thing it must 
be that would so stir the soul of Jesus ! 



18 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study III. — %tm&* Conception of t&e J&ingtoom of (55oU 

( Continued} 
Fourth Day : The Time of the Kingdom (continued) 

1 . Consider to-day the utterances of Jesus that speak of the King- 
dom as a present fact. The following are some of the most distinct. 
Examine Luke 16 : 16 (Matt, n : 12), which seems to refer to the 
violent rush of men toward the Kingdom without such adequate un- 
derstanding of its real character as Jesus was endeavoring to give. 
The passage seems to distinguish two eras, the second of which is 
already begun. Is it legitimate to suppose that Matt. 13:11 refers 
to the Kingdom itself as a present phenomenon ? In what sense had 
the Kingdom "come upon " them, in Matt. 12 : 28 ? Does Matt. 
6:33 mean seek to enter in now, or in the future ? What does 
Luke 10:11 indicate as to time ? Did Jesus mean, in Mark 1 2 : 34, 
that he could have entered the Kingdom then and there? Study 
carefully Luke 1 7 : 20, 2 1 , which raises the exact question we are 
discussing here. Does the word " you " designate the particular 
Pharisees that were talking with Him, or is it equivalent to the in- 
definite pronoun, " within one " ? Note that the Greek words 
translated "within you" might be translated "within your vicin- 
age," or, as the margin indicates, "among you." In any case, 
does the passage represent the Kingdom as present, or future ? Make 
note of any other passages that seem to you possibly to represent the 
Kingdom as present in time. 

2. Bring yourself into sympathy with Jesus in thinking of the 
Kingdom of God as a present opportunity confronting every man. Is 
there any sense in which a man to-day may be assured that, however 
slow he may have been to recognize it, nevertheless the Kingdom of 
God has come nigh him ; that there starts from every man's feet a 
path that leads to God ? If this be so, daily life takes on a new sig- 
nificance and dignity. 



19 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study III. — JJefiUts' Conception of X\t Eing&otn of (S5ofci 

( Continued ) 

Fifth Day : The Time of the Kingdom (concluded) 

i . We have seen that Jesus regarded the Kingdom as, in some sense, 
a present fact and also, in some sense, a future expectation. These two 
aspects of the Kingdom may be combined in the conception of a 
growing Kingdom, a Kingdom regarded by Jesus as, at the time, in 
existence and as destined, in the future, to experience certain new and 
glorious manifestations of the power of God. 

2. Consider whether the following passages afford evidence that 
Jesus conceived of such a growing Kingdom. What is the point of the 
illustration in Matt. 13:31, 32? Is the comparison between the 
meagre preliminary signs of the coming Kingdom and the greatness 
of the Kingdom, or between the small, though real, beginnings of the 
Kingdom and its final greatness ? What is the point of the illustration 
in Matt. 13 : 33 ? In Mark 4 : 26-29 is it the "harvest," or the 
"sowing," that constitutes the beginning of the Kingdom? Study 
carefully Matt. 13 : 24-30, 36-43. Does Jesus conceive that the 
Kingdom begins at the "consummation of the age" (v. 40 margin), 
or that it had begun before ? 

3 . If the supposition that Jesus conceived of a growing Kingdom 
be justifiable, we may think of Jesus as its Founder and King. He 
came stating the conditions of entrance, and as fast as men fulfilled 
these conditions they became subjects in the Kingdom. The begin- 
nings, therefore, were small and insignificant, for but few men seemed 
to understand and meet, even partially, the real conditions stated by 
Jesus. Yet, like the farmer who goes his way by day and sleeps 
soundly by night after having put his seed into the ground, Jesus felt 
confident that these beginnings would develop until a time called the 
" consummation of the age" (Matt. 13 : 39). Then some new and 
glorious manifestation of the Kingdom would be made (Luke 21 : 27- 
31 ; Matt. 13 : 43), in which the righteous dead would have a part 
(Matt. 8 : 11). Apparently the general judgment and the putting 
away of the wicked were expected to precede this manifestation 
(Matt. 13:41-43). 

" The society He was there to create was never to die ; was to 
spread through every land as through all time ; was to bind the ages 
in a wonderful harmony of spirit and purpose, man in a mystic broth- 
erhood of faith and love." — Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 

20 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study III.— ^ftsust' Conception of tlje Eing&om of <0ofc 

( Continued ) 

Sixth Day : The Place of the Kingdom 

i . We know that the earth is the scene of the growing Kingdom 
(Matt. 13 : 38), but the teaching of Jesus regarding the place where 
the Kingdom is to find its ultimate, glorious manifestation is not distinct. 

2. Examine each of the following references to the coming of 
Jesus in the glory of His Kingdom, see where it is that He appears, 
and note whether there is any indication as to where the Kingdom 
will find place: Luke 17:20-37; 18:8; 21:25-28; Matt. 
24 : 36-42. Consider the bearing of Matt. 6:10. 

3. Some of the references cited above seem to indicate that the 
earth is to be the scene of the perfected Kingdom. In John 14:2 
a statement is found which seems to indicate some locality other 
than the earth. See also John 1 7 : 24. 

4. The teaching of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, which is all 
we have to consider here, is, then, not explicit upon this point. Pos- 
sibly, taken as a whole, it affords ground for saying that this earth is 
to be a part of the place where the perfected Kingdom is to exist, but 
not the whole of it. Anticipate for a moment the apostolic view, 
found in Rev. 21 : 1-4; Rom. 8 : 19-23, that a transformed earth 
will be the scene of the Kingdom. 

5. It would seem as though there must necessarily be vagueness 
and uncertainty regarding the place where Jesus' ideal human civil- 
ization shall be realized. We know little of the physical conditions 
that are to prevail in the long future, of natural forces and the achieve- 
ments of man possible through the increasing control of them, and, 
therefore, an explicit statement regarding the location of the ultimate 
Kingdom seems impossible. It certainly seems, from an a priori 
stand-point, probable that more of the universe than this little planet 
will ultimately be utilized for the Kingdom, especially since Jesus 
represents that it will include the righteous dead (Matt. 8 : 11). 

" O sweet and blessed country, 
The home of God's elect ! 
O sweet and blessed country 
That eager hearts expect ! 
Jesus, in mercy bring us 
To that dear land of rest ! 
Who art, with God the Father, 
And Spirit, ever blest." — Bernard of Cluny. 

21 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study III.— ^eaus' Conception of t\z fctnfffcom of (3oti 

{Concluded} 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

1 . Try to make a brief statement, in two or three sentences, of 
Jesus' conception of the Kingdom of God. Let it express what you 
conceive to be His teaching on the following points among others : 
God's place in the Kingdom ; the place of Jesus Christ ; who may be 
subjects ; its aim, or the character of its life ; the place and time of 
its realization. 

2. Jesus' conception of the Kingdom differed from current concep- 
tions (i) in the unobtrusive character of its origin and growth ; (2) in 
the entire absence of political organization ; (3) in the kind of persons 
eligible for citizenship. Add to these any other differences that occur 
to you. 

3. The world, in its progressive thinking regarding the destiny of 
humanity, is simply making progress in understanding the thought of 
Jesus. "Back to Jesus Christ " is the cry with which every forward 
movement must begin. In His mind lay, and lies, the conception 
that is slowly being realized in human history. He is not a mere 
spectator, but is Himself the executor of His ideal. The history of 
Christian civilization, with whatever of steady development or abrupt 
catastrophe the future may have in store, will be not merely the un- 
folding of Jesus' thought, but the developing product of His personal 
activity. And it is such an one that we daily worship as Lord and 
Friend! 



22 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IV.— Meatus* Conception of Jrtmaelf an* tyiti ffiiman 
First Day : The Son of Man 

i. We have now to take up for extended study two questions 
that cannot be considered separately, namely, Whom did Jesus think 
Himself to be ? and, What did He consider to be His chief busi- 
ness? As was evident in Study I., according to the Synoptic Gospels 
Jesus did not make frequent explicit statements on these subjects, 
though there seemed always to be certain great assumptions underlying 
His life. The character of these assumptions we have to ascertain, as 
best we can, by a study of such indications of their presence as crop 
out upon the surface. 

2. It is appropriate to begin with the study of His favorite designa- 
tion of Himself, "Son of Man." It is rightly called His own desig- 
nation, for he rarely called Himself by any other name according to 
the Synoptic Gospels, and no one else, with a single exception (Acts 
7 : 56), ever applied it to him. In John 12 : 34 the people simply 
catch up the phrase in perplexity from His lips. Since He used this 
title so frequently, it would seem as though a study of its significance 
ought to give some general clew to Jesus' conception of Himself and 
His mission. 

3 . The phrase is found in the Old Testament, used in several senses. 
(1) See Ezekiel 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; and elsewhere in Ezekiel ; (2) 
see Ps. 8 : 4 ; Num. 23 : 19 ; and elsewhere in Old Testament poetry ; 
(3) see Dan. 7:13 ff., where it seems to symbolize the Kingdom of 
God's saints (note especially v. 18). Note in Matt. 16:27; 
26 : 64 the evidence that Jesus had Dan. 7 113 in mind in His use of 
the title. 

4. That it was not popularly understood to be a Messianic title is 
evident from the fact, brought out in Study I., that Jesus was not un- 
derstood to have declared Himself to be the Messiah, though He reg- 
ularly called Himself by this title. The evidence in the Gospels forces 
us to this conclusion, even though in chapters 37-71 of the composite 
" Book of Enoch," which are probably pre-Christian, the title seems 
to be used in the Messianic sense. 

5. Granting that Jesus wished, perhaps, to suggest the possibility 
of His Messiahship without asserting it, do you see anything about 
Dan. 7:13 that made the title "Son of Man " suitable to His pur- 
pose ? 

23 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study IV. — 3Tesufif* Conception of ^tmeielf anfc J>ia ^Htdfiion 

Second Day : The Son of Man (concluded) 

1. Passages like Matthew 16 : 27 and 26 : 64 show that, in the 
mind of Jesus, there were royal associations connected with the title 
" Son of Man," such as are suggested by its use in Dan. 7:13. 
Examine the following passages, in order to see whether they give 
evidence of the same : Matt. 9:6; 12:8; 13 : 41 ; 19 : 28 ; 24 : 
27> 3°» 37, 39- 

2. It would seem as though the use of the title must of necessity, 
by virtue of its very form, have expressed a conscious connection of 
its possessor with humanity. Such a conception would accord with 
Jesus' habit of freely mingling with men, finding a reason for hearty 
sympathy with all classes in the fact of a common humanity. Note 
in this connection Luke 7 : 34 ; the many references to the multitude, 
particularly the one that describes the threatened panic, Luke 1 2 : I ; 
the association with even the social outcasts, Luke 15:1; and His 
sympathetic justification of His conduct, Mark 2 : 16-17. 

3. Possibly, also, the use of the title expressed a consciousness of 
humble, man-like dependence upon God ( Dalman, « « Die Worte Jesu' ' ) , 
and the purpose to discard all use of force in the establishment of His 
Kingdom. Examine in this connection Matt. 8: 20; 12:32; 17: 
22 ; and particularly the impressive utterance in Matt. 20 : 28. 
This last passage will be considered in another connection, and is 
cited now simply for the light it throws on the meaning of the title 
" Son of Man " to the mind of Jesus. 

4. In all this study try, in a spirit of historical accuracy as well as 
personal devotion, to enter reverently into the experience of Jesus. 
One feels his utter inability to do this fully ; but in part it may be 
done, and we may find that He became the "Son of Man " that it 
might be done. Our natures are often shut up to themselves and to 
those in certain select particulars like themselves. They do not open 
out broadly, as did that of Jesus, to all men, finding in our common 
humanity a reason for enjoying their society. 



24 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IV.— ^eatts' Conception of J>ttnsel£ anH fyis jlftuftfion 
Third Day : The Son of God 

i . An individual knows himself always in personal relations, and 
can adequately describe himself only by indicating what his relations to 
other persons are. We have tried to see what Jesus meant by calling 
Himself " Son of Man," and we have now to seek for the signif- 
icance of another title that He applied to Himself and that is also ex- 
pressive of personal relationship. The title "Son of God" is not 
explicitly used by Jesus of Himself in the Synoptic Gospels, but He 
refers to God as His * * Father ' ' twenty-one times in Matthew, and to 
Himself as ' * Son ' ' in one remarkable passage. Read very carefully 
Matt, ii .-25-27, and its close parallel, Luke 10:21, 22, and con- 
sider whether the expression " the Son " is fairly taken to mean the 
Son of God. 

2. According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus heard others apply 
the title to Him, and did not deny that it belonged to Him. Read 
Matt. 3:17m connection with 4:3-6; 8 : 29 ; 14 : 33 ; 16 : 
16 ; 17:5; 26 -.6$, 64. 

3. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is represented as calling Himself by 
this title in 5 : 25 ; 9:35 (though some manuscripts here read 
" Son of man ") ; 10 : 36 ; 1 1 : 4. He calls God " His Father" 
more than one hundred times, and frequently speaks of Himself as the 
" Son," where the connection shows clearly that He means " Son of 
God," e.g., 5 : 19-23. He is represented also as permitting the 
title to be applied to Him by others. Read 1 : 49 ; 11:27. 

4. On the origin of this phrase, see Study I., First Day, paragraph 
4. We are now ready to inquire what the expression meant to Jesus, 
and what it indicates as to His conception of Himself and His work. 
This will be undertaken to-morrow. 

" His divinity and His humanity both appear in His claims and in 
His work. He was never afraid of lowering Himself. Standing on 
the very verge of time, with the millenniums of glory stretching on be- 
fore, He paused and stooped to wash the disciples' feet. He was 
ready always with all the help which a man may claim from his brother. 
Never dazzled by earthly splendors, He was never humbled by earthly 
lowliness. What explanation can there be of this but the old one, — 
He proceeded forth and came from God ? ' ' 

W. Robertson Nicoll, The Incarnate Saviour. 
25 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IV. — ^tms* Conception of IJrtmgelf anto fyi& Jftisaion 
Fourth Day : The Son of God (concluded) 

i. It may be that, in the development of Jesus' thought about 
Himself, a development suggested by such passages as Luke 2 : 40, 5 2, 
the great fact was His growing consciousness of unique relation to 
God. Consider whether there is any hint of this as early as the pe- 
riod described in Luke 2 : 49. Did the boy Jesus, roaming over the 
Nazareth hills, cultivating that love of nature which is evident in all 
the teaching of Jesus, begin to have a sense of standing in a peculiar re- 
lation to God ? Is there any likelihood that He became conscious of 
this fundamental relationship before He knew Himself to be the Mes- 
siah, and that He thought of Messiahship as one aspect of the funda- 
mental and all-inclusive relation of Sonship ? The data for answers 
to these questions are not given us, but we are certain that this title, 
" Son of God," must have expressed to Jesus a very real relation- 
ship. 

2. The evidence of the developing sense of Sonship is meagre, 
but the evidence of the developed sense is abundant. In ascertaining 
what He felt His mission as "Son of God" to be, consider, first, 
the strong consciousness of a mission, expressed in such passages as 
John 5: 30; 6:38; 7:16; 8:18. Some forty times in the Gos- 
pel of John He describes Himself as in the passages just cited. To 
ascertain what He thought His mission to be, read the report He 
made of Himself at the end of His work in John 1 7 : 4-6, 26, re- 
membering that " name," in Hebrew usage, means person, or char- 
acter (cf. Exodus 34 : 5-7). Read also John 14 : 8, 9. Note also 
the contribution made by the statements in John 5 : 20 ; 8 : 28 ; 
14 : 10. On the basis of this evidence state what He considered 
His mission, in general, to be. 

4. Now in the Synoptic presentation examine Matt. 11 125-27 
and its parallel, Luke 10 : 21, 22. What is the one word by which 
Jesus here describes His mission as Son ? 

5. The little boy's query, "What does God do all day ? " is one 
that rises in every thoughtful mind. Consider the answer given by 
the life of Jesus to this question, and the bearing of that answer upon 
your own life. 



26 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IV. — %tm&' Conception of ^imaelf anU |)ts; Jftisimon 
Fifth Day: The Temptation of the Son of God 

i. Yesterday's study seemed to yield as its result the discovery of 
a consciousness on the part of Jesus that, as Son of God, He was sent 
into the world to reveal His Father ; to explain to men by word, and 
illustrate by life, what kind of person God is. Ascertain from John 
5 : 30 ; 6:38; 8 : 28 ; 12 : 49, 50 ; 14 : 10, how He was able 
to give to men a perfect expression of His Father. Consider whether 
this waiting for the inner voice, alluded to in these passages, throws 
any light on Jesus' behavior in the instances mentioned in John 2 : 4-7; 
7 : 6-10. 

2. In the light of this view of Jesus' mission, the force of His temp- 
tation becomes at least partly evident. Read Matt. 4: 1-11, noting 
that Satan addresses Him by the Messianic title (vv. 3-6) which 
has recently been heard from heaven (3 : 17), appealing to Him to 
give some independent exhibition of Messianic power. We have not 
yet reached the point in this study where we can see in detail what 
Jesus felt to be required of Him as Son of God, and so cannot determine 
in what particulars He would have been untrue to the Messianic ideal 
given to Him by His Father, if He had done what Satan asked. 
Consider, however, what constituted the general temptation common 
to all three specific approaches of Satan. 

3. Jesus must have felt a real tug of temptation upon Him in these 
appeals to Him to be untrue to the essence of His Messianic ideal. 
The almost fierce way in which He repelled such temptation, when it 
later appealed to Him in more insinuating form (Mark 8 : 31-33), 
shows how really He felt its power, and how mightily He cast it off. 

The picture of Jesus in the Gospel of John, presenting to men a 
perfect expression of His Father through His complete submission to 
His Father, is enlivened and humanized by this Synoptic picture of the 
Son of God victoriously struggling with temptation. To be sure, there 
is evidence in the Gospel of John (14 : 30) that, from time to time 
through his Messianic career, Jesus was tempted not to be true to His 
Messianic mission. 

"Jesus never did a deed, He never thought a thought, that He did 
not carry it back with His soul before it took its final shape and get 
His Father's judgment on it. He lifted His eyes at any instant and 
talked through the open sky, and on the winds came back to Him the 
answer." Phillips Brooks. 

27 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IV. — ^Tc^ttsJ' Conception of ^imcelf an* {>te fSiimnn 
Sixth Day : The Son of God before the World was 

i. Before we begin to inquire what kind of person Jesus in His 
revelation represented God to be, there is need to notice one remark- 
able feature of Jesus' acquaintance with His Father which appears in 
the Gospel of John, and which has a bearing upon the question of His 
competence to make a report, in life and word, of what He had found 
His Father to be. 

2. Read John 3:13, notirig that the clause, "who is in heaven," 
might, with equal grammatical propriety, be translated "who was," 
or "used to be," in heaven. What does Jesus here represent to be 
the unique feature of His Self-consciousness ? 

Read 6 : 38, 41, 42. Here He represents Himself to be, in His 
own person, that which can sustain the spiritual life of the believer. 
What this "life" is will be considered later. The question here is, 
What does He mean by calling Himself the bread that " came down 
from heaven " ? Read also 6 : 62. 

Read 16 : 28-30 and state what thought Jesus meant His words to 
convey to His disciples. Read also 17:5, 24. 

Determine now whether any of these utterances indicate a con- 
sciousness, on the part of Jesus, of existence before His earthly life 
began. 

3. There are no passages in the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus 
speaks of Himself as having existed before His appearance on the 
earth. The Synoptic Gospels do, however, represent Him as mak- 
ing statements about Himself as startling as is this assertion in the 
Gospel of John regarding His pre-existence. 

These statements in the Gospel of John seem to indicate that, 
whatever may have been the limitations to which Jesus voluntarily 
submitted for the sake of being a more effective Redeemer, there were 
great rifts in His sky through which He had glimpses of a glorious past 
in the fellowship of His Father. It was with such a consciousness 
that He moved about in tenderness and strength among those that were 
sick in body and soul, bringing to them His own eternal health. 



23 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

■— —1MIIII ■lll»MI ■■!■ I ■!■■!■— !!■■■■ ■!!■■!■■ MIIMII IIIHH I IIHI I II I II H I H III I II II— ■■III — ■■!!■ 

Study IV.—%tmz' Conception of J>tmselt an* pin ;2fftt6fliion 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i. Review the Studies of the last six days, and summarize the 
points that have been gained. Remember that the purpose is, as far 
as may be, to enter into the consciousness of Jesus, and ascertain 
what He thought and how He felt, when He called Himself " Son 
of Man ; " and what He thought, when He called Himself " Son of 
God. ' ' It must be that Jesus had a real religious experience, and it 
is into that experience, as far as He revealed it to His apostles, that 
we have wished to inquire. What has the study of the religious ex- 
perience of Jesus shown to be His aim in life ? 

"Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Whom we, that have not seen thy face, 
By faith, and faith alone, embrace, 
Believing where we cannot prove." 

" Thou seemest human and divine, 

The highest, holiest manhood, thou : 
Our wills are ours, we know not how j 
Our wills are ours, to make them thine. 

" Our little systems have their day ; 

They have their day and cease to be : 
They are but broken lights of thee, 
And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 

Tennyson, In Memoriam. 



2 9 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — %tmtf Conception of |)ims;elf anU |)ie; JHteston 

( Continued) 

First Day : Jesus the Revelation of the Father- 
hood of God 

i. Starting now with the general conception we have gained of 
Jesus as being one who felt Himself sent by His Father to show men 
what kind of person God is, we can inquire in detail regarding the 
nature and purpose of this revelation. What kind of God was it 
that Jesus showed to men, and why did He show Him to them ? 

2. It goes without saying that Jesus spoke to men genuinely and 
frankly out of His own experience. The most fundamental thing He 
had to reveal to them was the most fundamental thing in His own ex- 
perience, namely, that God is a Father. 

In the Old Testament God is often spoken of as a sovereign or 
judge. In some cases He is addressed as •* Father," but it is a ques- 
tion whether He was thought of in the Old Testament as the Father 
of individuals. He is called the Father of the nation and of the king. 
Examine the following passages, and see whether, in any of them, God 
appears as the Father of any individual except the king : Is. 63 : 16 ; 
64 : 8 ; Jer. 3 1 : 9, 20 ; Hosea 1 1 : 1 ; Mai. 1 : 6 ; 2 : 10 ; Ps. 
89 : 26 ; 103 : 13 ; II Sam. 7 : 14. 

3. In God's progressive revelation of His truth certain things have 
been said with a steadily increasing distinctness and emphasis. It 
would not be surprising, therefore, if this fundamental truth of the 
Fatherhood of God should be found in rudimentary form in the Old 
Testament, it being left for Jesus and His apostles in the fulness of 
time to bring it out into the clear light. One cf the most impressive 
features of God's dealing with the world and with individuals is the 
patience with which He adapts His revelation to the understanding of 
men. " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now " (John 16 : 12). One of the aims of true life is to trans- 
form truth into action so steadily that there shall be a constantly in- 
creasing capacity for the reception of more truth. This requires that 
one shall increasingly act as one who has God for his Father. 



30 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V.—^t&xut* Conception of Iptmself anfc pis JHiesiion 

( Continued} 

Second Day : Jesus the Revelation of the Father- 
hood of God (concluded) 

i. Over against the meagre representation of the Fatherhood of 
God in the Old Testament, consider Jesus' strong and constant em- 
phasis of it. Examine Matt. 5 : 48 ; 6:14-18; 23 : 9. The ex- 
pression found in these passages occurs some nineteen times in Mat- 
thew. 

2. In the Gospel of John the expression " the Father" occurs 
more than sixty times. Examine 6 : 45, 46 ; 14 : 26 as typical 
passages, and state whether the expression means that God is the 
Father of any other than Jesus. Examine the one impressive pas- 
sage in which the expression " your Father" is used, 20 : 17. 

3. Jesus' daily familiar reference in the presence of His disciples to 
God as His Father and their Father must have made the Father a great 
reality to them. This is evident in John 14:8. They had seen 
Jesus to do so many mighty works that they were convinced that He 
might produce for them some glorious vision of the Father, like the 
theophany witnessed by Moses (Ex. 33 : 17-23). By a pre-con- 
certed arrangement, perhaps, it was determined that one of their num- 
ber should request this. They learned from Jesus' reply that there 
was no more adequate revelation of God than that which they had 
seen in the quiet glory of their Lord's daily life (14: 9). That is, 
Jesus revealed God not merely in His teaching, but in His own person. 
They learned that God is a ■ ' Christ-like God." Read also John 
10 : 30. 



31 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — %tm&* Conception of IMmseif an* fyia JHteston 

( Continued} 

Third Day : Jesus the Revealer of the Providing 

Father 

i . Bearing in mind that the presence of the Father was the funda- 
mental reality in Jesus' daily experience, note the characteristic func- 
tion of Fatherhood expressed in each of the following passages : Matt. 
6 : 25-34; 7 :8-n ; 10 : 29-31. 

2. In the Gospel of John glance rapidly through chapters 14, 15, 
16 : 25-33, and record whatever you find there concerning the 
characteristics and functions of God's Fatherhood. 

3. The explanation of the peacefulness of Jesus is found in His 
sense of the presence of an all-powerful, all-loving Father. His con- 
fidence that this peace could be reproduced in the disciple (John 14 : 
27) rested on the conviction that there might be reproduced in the 
disciple a sense of the presence of the Father (John 14 : 21-23). 

4. When a man realizes that the all-powerful God is his Father, so 
that at any moment he can say, " God is here ; He is my Father," 
the foundations of an everlasting peace are laid in his life. It was this 
message that Jesus brought by word and life. 

" The very God ! think, Abib 5 dost thou think ? 
So, the All-Great, were the All-Loving too — 
So, through the thunder comes a human voice 
Saying, ' O heart I made, a heart beats here ! ' " 

Browning, An Epistle. 



3* 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — 3****' Conception of himself an* pis ffiis&ion 

( Continued} 

Fourth Day : Jesus the Revealer of the Seeking 

Father 

i. In a remarkable conversation with a woman of unsavory repu- 
tation Jesus told her that God was a Father seeking worshippers ; and 
in His own personal activity on that occasion He revealed the Father 
in actual search for one such worshipper. Read John 4 : 23, and then 
read the entire account of the interview, 4 : 1-42, thinking of Jesus as 
a revelation of His Father, and of His engrossment in this interview 
(vv. 31-35) as a revelation of the interest felt by His Father in the 
transformation of this woman into a true worshipper. 

2. Notice in John 17 : 6-8 that Jesus views the Twelve as persons 
sought out by God and given to Him, and that in the Synoptic pres- 
entation Jesus is represented as Himself finding them and calling them 
to His discipleship (Matt. 9:9). 

3. There may be some question as to whether Jesus represents God 
as being the Father of all men, or only of such as believe; but there is 
no doubt that He represents God as loving all men and as seeking to 
secure from them such worship as can come only from the hearts of 
true sons. If He is regarded as the Father of all men, then the great 
tragedy that fills the world is best indicated by calling many of them 
"lost sons of God." This expression indicates God's care for them; 
what He meant them to be ; and the awful loss that is sustained when 
they fail to recognize who they are. 



33 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — %z&\&* Conception of JMmaelf anti f>ia Jfturcum 

( Continued} 

Fifth Day : Jesus the Revealer of the Seeking 
Father (concluded) 

i . Consider to-day what is found in the Synoptic Gospels regarding 
Jesus as a revelation of the seeking Father. Read first Jesus' general 
description of His mission found in Luke 19 : 10. Then read the 
whore paragraph 19: 1-10. What constitutes a man "lost" will 
be considered in Part III., where Jesus' conception of the disciple and 
his mission is discussed. For the present, consider, not what consti- 
tuted Zaccheus "lost," but the sense of mission expressed by Jesus 
in the words of v. 10. As you read the paragraph, try to under- 
stand the actual fee ling of Jesus as He called this man from the tree, 
entered his house, met his family, sat at his table, talked with him on 
his house-top in the cool of the evening and until the stars shone out 
in the sky. Consider that in all this He was giving expression to the 
Father seeking for a " lost son." He was " revealing " the Fa- 
ther (Luke 10 : 22). Read also Matt. 9 : 10-13. 

2. The passage which leads most directly into the consciousness of 
Jesus is Luke 15 : 1-32. The passage represents Jesus as engrossed 
in the accomplishment of His Mission, surrounded on all sides by lost 
sons of God (15 : 1). Read 15 : 3-7, imagining the feeling of the 
shepherd during the search, at the discovery, and on the return ; and 
noticing that Jesus attributes these feelings to God (v. 7). 

Read vv. 8-10, noticing what Jesus intended to teach regarding 
His own frame of mind at the time. 

Then read vv. 1 1-32, in which He seems directly to describe the 
feelings of God over the return of a "lost son " (v. 32). Note es- 
pecially vv. 20-24. 

3. It is evident that, to Jesus' mind, God was no metaphysical ab- 
straction nor theological dogma, but a living Father. If one can 
imagine with what feelings a father would search for a lost son, then 
he can realize something of the feeling of the Father, which Jesus 
felt Himself sent to express in word and life. 



34 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — %ft6u&* Conception of Jtmself anti |)ts fflLimtm 

{Continued) 

Sixth Day : Jesus' Revelation of His Father by 
Mighty Works 

i . In the Gospel of John, Jesus is represented as considering His 
mighty works to be prompted by, and expressive of, His Father's 
activity. Read John 5 : 2-9, 17-19 ; 9 : 4-7 ; 5 : 36 ; 10 : 25 ; 
14 : 10. 

2. We are accustomed to suppose that love and power are the two 
fundamental characteristics of God's personality. If we are right in 
this supposition, the propriety, or even necessity, of what we call 
" miracles" becomes evident. They constitute a marked expression 
of the love and power of God in combination. The purpose of the 
miracles of Jesus is in almost every case apparently, and in some cases 
avowedly, to relieve suffering or discomfort. They are a constant il- 
lustration of the profound statement, " The Son of Man came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister. ' ' Note the evidence of this in the 
following instances : Luke 7:13 and context ; Mark 7 : 34 ; 8 : 2, 3. 

3 . It is sometimes said that miracles were an aid to the faith of the 
first Christians, but are a hindrance to the faith of Christians to-day. 
It is not in place here to discuss the nature of the miracle and its re- 
lation to natural law, but simply to call attention to the fact that Jesus 
conceived of the miracle as a part of His revelation of the Father. We 
certainly do well to recognize in the moral character of Jesus the high- 
est manifestation of supernatural power ; but it is the demand of mod- 
ern psychology that thought and feeling shall express themselves in action, 
and if Jesus were represented in the Gospels as making the astounding as- 
sumption that He was the revelation of God, and yet were not repre- 
sented as doing anything unusual, anything God-like in the presence of 
human need, the world would hardly accept Him as a perfect revela- 
tion of God. The absence of the miracle, and not the presence of it, 
would constitute the stumbling-block to faith. This does not neces- 
sarily imply that Jesus performed miracles with an apologetic purpose, 
that is, to prove His claim. He performed them as a natural and spon- 
taneous expression of His Father's power and love, and it is such a 
performance of them that gives them their apologetic value. As Dr. 
Fairbairn has said : " Given the Person of Jesus, and it is more nat- 
ural that He should than that He should not work miracles. 1 ' 

35 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study V. — %tmtf Conception of $>tmsiel£ an& |>i0 iHtsaton 

(Continued} 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i. Review briefly the Studies of the week, noting what kind of 
person Jesus represented God to be, as far as the work of the week 
has enabled you to ascertain. The allusion in yesterday's Study to 
the power of God introduces a thought that will be more clearly 
brought out later, namely, the sovereignty of God. As Dr. Fairbairn 
has said, there is in all true fatherhood an element of sovereignty and 
in all true sovereignty an element of fatherhood. This is to be borne 
in mind as the thought underlying the Study of next week. 

" He, who from the Father forth was sent, 

Came the true Light, light to our hearts to bring 5 

The Word of God, — the telling of His thought j 

The Light of God, — the making visible j 

The far-transcending glory brought 

In human form with man to dwell ; 

The dazzling gone — the power not less 

To show, irradiate, and bless 5 

The gathering of the primal rays divine, 

Informing Chaos to a pure sunshine ! " 

— George MacDonald. 



36 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VI.— Jesus' Conception of |)itngeiC an* {>ts ffiimtm 

{Continued') 

First Day : Jesus' Consciousness of Authority as a 

Teacher 

i . In the days when Jesus was thought to be only a prophet, His 
most striking characteristic was a certain undisguised consciousness of 
authority as a teacher. He cited no other man's opinions, as did the 
ordinary rabbi-preachers, but spoke with the decisive conviction of di- 
rect and independent insight into truth. Read Mark I : 21, 22. 

2. This consciousness of authority is very pronounced in His treat- 
ment of the Scriptures. His allusions to them are always reverent 
(cf. Matt. 5:18; 23 : 1-3), yet He extends and modifies their 
teaching with the strong, unhesitating hand of a master. Read 
Matt. 5 : 17, where " to fulfil" probably means "to carry on to 
completion," and note the conscious authority with which He pro- 
ceeds to develop the commandments of Scripture in vv. 21, 22, 27, 
28, 33, 34, 38, 39, 43, 44. Note especially in each case the em- 
phatic "I say unto you " with which He supplements the Scripture 
statements. Note also the impressive paragraph, Luke 6 : 46-49 ; 
and read Matt. 12 : 41, 42. 

3. Read Mark 10 : 1-12, and observe the summary fashion in 
which He sets Moses aside, and promulgates a social law that He 
asserts to have been in the mind of God long before Moses' day. 

4. Read Mark 7 : 14-19, and note (last clause of v. 19, Revised 
Version) the boldness with which at one stroke He annuls the Leviti- 
cal legislation regarding clean and unclean meats. 

5. When He seemed to stand face to face with defeat, His con- 
fident consciousness of authority did not in the least weaken, but He 
said with quiet conviction, "My words shall not pass away." He 
described their unchangeableness in the same terms in which He had 
so reverently spoken of the imperishable word of God. Read Mark 
13:31 together with Matt. 5:18. 

History has confirmed His apparently ungrounded anticipation. 
Other things have " passed away," but His words "have not passed 
away ' ' ! They have been reproduced in many languages, and are 
being transformed each day into imperishable personal life, as one new 
disciple after another recognizes their authority. 

37 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VI.— testis' Conception of J)tmdelf anU |)t6 ;ptismon 

(Continued) 

Second Day : Jesus' Consciousness of His Personal 
Authority 

i . Jesus did not hesitate to represent Himself as having the right 
absolutely to control every man's life for good. Read Matt. 10 : 37- 
39, noting His emphasis of His own personality. He is not urging 
devotion to a cause merely, but supreme devotion to His own person. 
Think the passage carefully through, and determine what there is left 
that can take precedence of Jesus in human thought and devotion. 
Sometimes this sense of His own importance became strenuous and 
expressed itself in language that must have seemed to the multitudes 
almost repellent in its intensity. Read Luke 14 : 25-33. 

2. Try to penetrate the consciousness of Jesus, and ascertain how 
He justified Himself in making these demands ; what motive lay be- 
hind them ; and whether they were made in an arbitrary, combative 
spirit. That is, What did He conceive would be the effect upon men, 
in case they took this attitude toward Him ? What did He see in Him- 
self that warranted any such attitude toward Him on the part of men ? 
Read Matt. 23:10 and the culminating statement in Matt. 28 : 18. 

3. Turn now to the Gospel of John, and, from your previous ac- 
quaintance with it, note any passages in which Jesus emphasizes the su- 
preme importance of His own person, considering especially 14 : 1-6. 
Why did it seem to Jesus as reasonable to have confidence in Him as 
to have confidence in God (14: 1 ) ? Try to conceive the personal 
consciousness of one who could say of Himself what is said in v. 6. 
Inquire again, What is the motive that lay behind these assertions f 

THE SONG OF A HEATHEN 
(Sojourning in Galilee, a.d. 32) 
I 
" If Jesus Christ is a man, — 
And only a man, — I say 
That of all mankind I cleave to him, 
And to him will I cleave alway. 

II 

" If Jesus Christ is a God, — 

And the only God, — I swear 
I will follow Him through heaven and hell, 
The earth, the sea, and the air ! " 

Richard Watson Gilder. 
38 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VI.— ^faros' Conception of Iptmaelf anti Jus jiteion 

( Continued ) 

Third Day : Jesus' Consciousness of His Own Suffi- 
ciency for the Needs of Men 

i . Jesus was not merely conscious of authority as a teacher and of 
a personal right to the affection and obedience of men, but He mani- 
fested an astonishing confidence that He was sufficient, in His own per- 
son, to satisfy the needs and aspirations of men. Read Matt. 1 1 : 28- 
30. Notice that it is in view of His consciousness of unique relationship 
to God (v. 27) that Jesus gives this indiscriminate invitation. He 
seems to be confident that no one else can give what He promises. 
What He promises is a life of profound restfulness, or satisfaction, and 
He promises it to any troubled spirit, no matter what its burdens or un- 
resting aspirations may be. The phraseology of the passage seems to 
indicate that He had most prominently in mind the conscientious souls 
that wore the burdensome yoke of the rabbis, but the context and Jesus' 
general attitude toward the outcast classes show that His statement was 
of general application. 

2. In close connection with this thought is the assurance with which 
Jesus looked into the hearts of certain men, and set them at rest by as- 
suring them that their sins were forgiven. Read Luke 5 : 18-26. He 
does not find the man in a peaceful state of mind that leads Him to 
infer that he must have been forgiven, but He definitely expresses His 
consciousness of power to look into hearts, to forgive sins (v. 24), and 
consequently to give peace. Read also 7 : 36-50, noting the au- 
thoritative assurance of forgiveness. 

3. In the Gospel of John, Jesus' consciousness of sufficiency to meet 
the needs of men is very marked. Read John 6:35, remembering 
the promiscuous character of those to whom He was speaking ( w. 5, 
22-24). Read also 8:12, and particularly 14 : 27. 

Here again try to penetrate the consciousness of Jesus, and imagine 
with what confident desire He looked out upon the crowds of travel- 
lers, business men, and soldiers, thronging the great world-highways 
that crossed and re-crossed Palestine. They were going here and there 
in the world on various errands. He stood looking at them, from the 
Galilean hill-tops, with the consciousness of being one who could 
afford them peace and light through His companionship. 



39 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study VI. — %zm&* Conception of himself anfc ^is JHiamon 
( Continued) 

Fourth Day : Jesus' Expectation of Spiritual Associ- 
ation with His Disciples 

1. Although Jesus' death occupied a very prominent place in His 
thought, especially toward the end, He always saw beyond it with 
clear vision. His distinct predictions of death in the Synoptic Gospels 
always included the prediction of a resurrection. Note some of the 
things which He foresaw on the other side of His death, Luke 23 : 
43 ; Matt. 26 : 32 ; 24 : 1, 2, 14. The most notable experience 
to which He looked forward was that of some kind of continued asso- 
ciation with His disciples. His utterances on this subject could hardly 
have been understood by them at the time, for they did not realize that 
He was to die. We, reading these utterances in the light of what 
afterward happened, interpret them as predictions of a spiritual associ- 
ation. With this thought in mind read Matt. 18 : 19, 20. What 
did these words probably mean to the disciples, when they originally 
heard them ? What did they mean to the disciples, as they remem- 
bered them afterward? What thought was in the mind of Jesus, when 
He spoke them ? 

2. The post-resurrection utterance recorded in Matt. 28 : 20 is of 
great interest in this connection. At the time it was spoken the disci- 
ples had for some days, or weeks, been having occasional interviews 
with Jesus. What did the words probably mean to them, when they 
first heard them ; and what did Jesus mean by them ? 

3. The statements ascribed to Jesus in the Gospel of John refer more 
evidently to spiritual experience. Read John 14:21-24. What 
was it about these words that so perplexed the disciples (v. 22) ? 
Try to put yourself in sympathy with Jesus as He stood on the verge 
of the great change (16 : 5, 6, 28-30), and ask yourself with what 
sensations and expectations He uttered such words as 14:21, 23, 24. 

"Jesus, these eyes have never seen 
That radiant form of thine ! 
The vail of sense hangs dark between 
Thy blessed face and mine ! 

" I see thee not, I hear thee not, 
Yet art thou oft with me j 
And earth hath ne'er so dear a spot, 
As where I meet with thee." 

Ray Palmer. 

40 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VI.— %tm&* Conception of {Jimsel! an* I)us jHtasiion 

( Continued ) 

Fifth Day : Jesus' Expectation of Judging the 

Nations 

i. One of the most startling features of Jesus' consciousness was His 
conviction that He should finally judge the nations. Read carefully 
Matt. 13 : 36-43, and particularly vv. 41, 42, noting the possessive 
pronoun ; also the casual anticipation of the judgment in Matt. 7 : 22, 
23. Read Matt. 16 : 27, and compare it with the statement made 
by Jesus before the Sanhedrin at the time of His trial, Matt. 26 : 64. 
The most vivid statement is that in Matt. 25 : 31-46. Read it very 
carefully, noting that Jesus represents Himself to be the Judge, and that 
it is the previous relation of the judged to Jesus that determines the result. 

2. In the Gospel of John, also, Jesus is represented as confident that 
He will one day judge men. Note the evidence of it in 5 : 19-29. 
Here again it is their attitude toward Him that determines the result. 
The wrong attitude toward Him is its own condemnation, 12 : 46-49. 
Consider what is involved in the ability to judge, which Jesus was con- 
scious of possessing. It does not consist merely in laying down the 
principles in accordance with which judgment is pronounced, but it 
involves determining whether each man, in his inmost heart, has con- 
formed to the principles of righteousness. This is not easy to deter- 
mine. A man is sometimes in doubt about himself. What did Jesus 
see in Himself that convinced Him that he was capable of pronouncing 
ultimate judgment in the case of all men ? 

Jesus, even in His earthly life, had the power to bring to light the 
true selves of those about Him. The Samarian peasant woman, after 
a brief conversation with Him, hurried away to the village saying, 
" Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did." The 
vehement protestations of Peter did not confuse Him, or make Him 
hesitate. He looked straight at Peter's soul and reported it to be one 
that in a few hours would deny its Lord. Pontius Pilate, Roman Pro- 
curator, had thrown up about his personality the imposing outworks of 
official prestige and power, but Jesus pressed easily through them to the 
heart of the man, and found it weak and cowardly. 

" For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of 
Christ." St. Paul, Second Letter to the Corinthians. 



41 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 
Study VI. — %z&w? Conception of himself an& pin JHtesion 

( Continued} 

Sixth Day : Jesus' Consciousness of Sinlessness 

i . It would certainly not have been like Jesus to parade His con- 
sciousness of sinlessness in the presence of sinful men. If He had such 
a consciousness, the evidence of it must be sought in implication rather 
than in direct assertion. There is no doubt that the apostles later con- 
sidered Jesus to have been a sinless person. The question now is, 
What evidence is there that Jesus considered Himself never to have 
sinned ? 

2. Do you recall any expression of penitence or regret on the part 
of Jesus? His recorded prayers are few. In Luke 10 : 21, 22; 
John 11 : 41, 42 ; 17 : 1-26, is there any hint of confession ? Com- 
pare in this connection the confessions of other men, Matt. 3:14; I 
Tim. 1:15, 16; I John 1 19, 10; Isa. 6:5. 

3. The account of Jesus' temptation (Matt. 4 : 1-11), which, in 
the nature of the case, must have been reported to the disciples by Jesus 
Himself, is a record of completely victorious resistance of temptation. 
In the Gospel of John the representation of 14 : 30 agrees with this. 

4. Consider the way in which Jesus associates His name with that 
of the Father in the baptismal formula, Matt. 28 : 19, and in the 
strange statement, Mark 13 132, where He classes Himself above an- 
gels. Is it fair to say that, in conceiving of Himself as appointed to 
judge the nations, He assumes that He is Himself above judgment ? 

5. His constant conception of Himself in the Gospel of John, as 
being in character and life a perfect revelation of the Father, indicates 
what in this connection ? 

" But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign Seer of time, 
But Thee, O poet's Poet, Wisdom's Tongue, 
But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love, 
O perfect life in perfect labour writ, 
O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, — 
What if or yet, what mole, what flaw, what lapse, 
What least defect or shadow of defect, 
What rumour, tattled by an enemy, 
Of inference loose, what lack of grace 
Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's, — 
Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee. 
Jesus, good Paragon, thou Crystal Christ?" 

Sidney Lanier, The Crystal. 

42 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VI. — %wm> Conception of f>im0elf anU tyi& fflmion 

( Continued') 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i . Review the points secured by the investigation made the past 
week, getting them distinctly before your mind and endeavoring to incor- 
porate them into a mental picture of Jesus that shall be real to you. 
One's conception of Jesus is greatly enriched by realizing that Jesus had 
a real religious experience. Jesus did not move unfeelingly and offi- 
cially through the range of experience discovered by the past week's 
study. His sense of authority, His expectation of judging men, His 
demand for the supreme devotion of all men, were all very real ele- 
ments of His consciousness. Hefe/t them all. 

When all sense of artificiality is thrown off, and we come upon 
Jesus as a real person, speaking out of a real personal experience, the 
extraordinary significance of this consciousness grows upon us, and we 
worship with deepening awe and intensifying love. 

" Beginning His work in a peasant's garb, with almost no following, 
He anticipated the time when His religion should become fashionable, — 
when men should call Him « Lord, Lord ! ' and He would not know 
them ; when His name, hardly known, or known to be despised, 
should become the spring of power, — the well-head of great and sweet 
utterances, — the name above every name, as Paul calls it, — the beau- 
tiful name, as even the stern Apostle James says, with the rare, deep 
tenderness of a rugged nature. Such were His claims. None other 
made such claims ; none other claimed to stand so high, or to give so 
much. If these claims are untrue, can His character stand stainless ? 
We are shut up to the old dilemma. Either he is God, or He is not 
good." 

W. Robertson Nicoll, The Incarnate Saviour. 



43 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VII. — testis' Conception of iMmself antr 5>te JHission 

( Co?itinued~) 

First Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels 

i . Toward the end Jesus had much to say regarding His prospec- 
tive death, and spoke of it as an integral part, or even as the culmina- 
tion, of His mission. The evident importance attached to it by Jesus 
justifies a somewhat careful study of His statements regarding it." 

How early He realized that the accomplishment of His mission in- 
volved His death, we have not data for ascertaining. The earliest 
allusion to it in the Synoptic Gospels is in Mark 2 : 20. The idea 
that the Messiah must die was utterly foreign to Jewish thought. See 
John 12 : 34. His disciples seem never to have taken His predic- 
tions of death literally and seriously, for had they done so they would 
not have given up all hope as they did after His death, and would not 
have regarded the report of His resurrection as "idle talk" (Luke 
24 : 8-1 1 ). They probably regarded His predictions of death as in- 
stances of the parabolic style of speech of which He was so fond, and, 
perhaps, thought that He was describing in parabolic language a brief 
temporary disappearance, to be followed by a sudden re- appearance in 
glorious form, and the long-deferred establishment of His Kingdom. 

2. Note, in Mark 8:31, the two classes whose religious and political 
views were so divergent upon many points, but who were fast becom- 
ing a unit in their bitter hatred of Jesus. (The high-priestly family 
was the nucleus of the Sadducees, and the Scribes came largely, if not 
exclusively, from the Pharisees. Both parties were represented in the 
supreme court, or Sanhedrin, which is suggested here by the word 
"elders." Cf. Mark 15 : 1.) 

Why were the Pharisees and Sadducees so bitterly opposed to Jesus ? 
As a partial explanation, note the rapid development of Pharisaic oppo- 
sition, and the reasons for it, presented in the four paragraphs of 
Mark 2:1-3:6. Read also the more political Sadducean argument 
in John n : 47"53- 

" He was the enduring Christ, not only in the deep mystery of His 
atonement, . . . but in the lifelong pain of His days. He lived 
surrounded by an atmosphere of calumny and rejection. 
There is no hatred like the hatred of religionists who fear that their 
system is to be overthrown, and that hatred He knew to the full." 
W. Robertson Nicoll, The Incarnate Saviour. 

44 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VII.— Jesus' Conception of f>unseit an* of pis ffiimnn 

(Continued) 

Second Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 

His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels 

(continued) 

i . Is there any general indication that Jesus regarded His death as 
possessed of greater significance than the death of any ordinary man ? 
Read Mark 9:12; Matt. 26 : 54; Luke 12 149; 18:31; 24: 25, 26. 

2. The great question is, What significance did Jesus see in His 
death ? In His earliest distinct statement regarding it He speaks of it 
in connection with, and apparently as an illustration of, a great princi- 
ple of the religious life, namely, that a man must be willing to let go 
of the lower in order to take hold of the higher. Read carefully Mark 
8 : 31-37. Peter was annoyed because Jesus made this gloomy pre- 
diction publicly (v. 32), for although the disciples were sufficiently 
familiar with Jesus' habitual parabolic form of speech to suppose that 
He did not mean literally what He said, still there was danger that the 
people might take Him seriously, and the Messiah could never hope to 
secure and retain a following, if He were thought to be anticipating 
death. An unwise use of parabolic speech had already cost Jesus a large 
part of His following (see John 6 : 52-54, 60, 66), and Peter pro- 
poses now to prevent the recurrence of such an experience. Jesus 
strenuously resents the interference, turns back to the crowd, and 
makes the still more offensive announcement that, not only is He to 
die, but that no one can be His disciple who is not ready to die with 
Him (v. 34). He warns Peter that any one who is ashamed of the 
statements that He makes, is in danger of failing to enter the King- 
dom (v. 38). The reason for requiring this readiness to sacrifice 
physical life is given in the general paradoxical statement, in which 
there is a play on the word "life," that the condition of laying hold of 
the higher, spiritual life in the Kingdom is the readiness to let go of the 
lower, physical life (v. 35). 

3 . Does Jesus in this passage represent His death as something bene- 
ficial to others, or as something that He must Himself pass through in 
order to attain the highest life? Cf. v. 36 with Matt. 4: 8-10. 
Consider whether the parallel rendering in Matt. 16 : 23 gives any 
hint of personal temptation and peril to Himself. Consider what was 
the effect upon His own personal life of Jesus' determination to sacri- 
fice Himself, 

45 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VII. — %zmtf Conception of himself antr $>te ffilis&itm 

( Continued) 

Third Day : Jesus* Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels (con- 
tinued) 

i. We come now to a passage in which Jesus represents that His 
death is to be of advantage to others. Read carefully Mark 10 : 32-45, 
and state what the line of thought is that culminates in v. 45. It is 
evident that at this time the thought of death was much in the mind of 
Jesus (vv. 32-34, 38), although the unsympathetic minds of His friends 
were filled with very different thoughts (vv. 35-37). 

2. In view of the fact that His death is distinctly the subject under 
discussion in this paragraph, the expression, " to give His life," is most 
naturally referred to death and not to spending life in the service of 
others. The statement is somewhat general, and it does not go into 
detail. The reason for this is apparent. The disciples could not yet 
even understand that Jesus was to die, and much less were they in a po- 
sition to understand a detailed explanation of the significance of His death. 

The word translated *' ransom" is used in the Old Testament to 
designate the price paid for release from bondage or captivity, or as a 
substitute for the death penalty (Ex. 21 : 30). The figure evidently 
ought not to be pressed in all its possible details, as was done by the 
theologians of the middle ages, who regarded Satan as having a pro- 
prietary interest in men, which he relinquished upon receipt of the death 
of Christ as a ransom. 

3. Conceive yourself, as far as possible, in the actual situation of 
Jesus and His disciples, and endeavor to answer the following ques- 
tions : Jesus here represents His death to be in accordance with what 
great principle of conduct ? What motive actuated Him in His readi- 
ness to die ? Who are benefited by His death ? From what are they 
freed ? In answering the last question it is perhaps admissible to antici- 
pate the representation made in John 8:34. Does the statement here 
in Mark enable you to tell how the death of Jesus serves to free men 
from their undesirable situation ? 

4. Evidently Jesus had a very keen sense of the disastrous limitations 
under which men lived, and of the great possibilities of development 
that would be theirs in case these limitations should be removed. It is 
our privilege to have some clear sense that He has secured for us exemp- 
tion from these limitations, however imperfectly we may at present 
understand the character of our indebtedness to Him for doing so. 

46 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study VII. — 3^eJStt6 , Conception of JUmseif an& pis Jlisston 

(Continued} 

Fourth Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels (con- 
tinued) 

i . As further indication that Jesus considered His death to be bene- 
ficial to others, read Mark 14 : 22-24 and its parallels, Matt. 26 : 26- 
29 ; Luke 22 : 19, 20. 

2. Notice the two figures by which He expresses His sense of the 
significance of His death. The first is the allusion to certain broken 
wafers of the passover supper as His "body." Consider all the cir- 
cumstances, especially the fragments of the paschal lamb lying before 
them on the table, and state what there was in the situation that made 
Him speak of these broken pieces of bread as His "body." 

3. The event commemorated by the eating of the paschal lamb is 
described in Ex. 12:1-28. Read this description rapidly, noting 
that the eating of the paschal lamb celebrated the sparing of the Israel- 
ites and their deliverance from bondage into liberty (Ex. 12 : 27). 

4. If Jesus had the fragments of the paschal lamb in mind when He 
took the fragments of the broken loaf and made them symbolize His 
own body, it would seem that He must have thought of His body, 
that is, of Himself, as in some sense a sacrifice, the offering of which 
would be connected with the introduction of the people into liberty. 

5 . Certain deeper questions regarding the significance of such sacri- 
fice arise at this point and are not answered in the text. What was the 
significance of the original sacrifice of the paschal lamb to the crude 
minds of the escaping Israelitish bondmen ? What, in the eternal world 
of spiritual reality, is the necessity for the sacrifice of a great person like 
Jesus Christ ? What did Jesus, with His clear spiritual vision, conceive 
to be the necessity for such sacrifice as He was contemplating in con- 
nection with the introduction of men into liberty ? Let these questions 
rest in your mind, and consider whether the passage studied to-day sheds 
any light on them. Do not be disturbed if you are not able to answer 
such questions at once. Let them be among the questions that you 
"hang up," as Horace Bushnell said, and patiently take down from 
time to time for re-examination, as you wait for light upon them. 



47 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

i iuumiLCT n ■. i i u m i m il ii mii m miiii n J ,iLiMiimai»iii'j> i n ■!■ im i i ii i» i tjijuMjiiiiMjM i»B^— — — w^mt t-n 

Study VII.— 3^efiitt6 , Conception of J)imsclf anU {Us JHtgfiion 

( Continued) 

Fifth Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels (con 
tinued) 

i . Examine the second figure used by Jesus at the paschal supper in 
speaking of the significance of His death. Read Mark 14.: 23, 24; Matt. 
26 : 27, 28 ; Luke 22 : 20. Here Jesus speaks of His blood as "cov- 
enant blood," or, in some manuscripts, as blood of the "new" cov- 
enant. According to oriental ideas a covenant seems to have been 
rendered binding only after the contracting parties had in some way 
made use of blood. The best illustration of this is found in Ex. 
24 : 1-8. Read this passage, noting that the altar represented Jehovah, 
and that the covenant was rendered operative by the application of 
blood to each of the contracting parties. In order to ascertain what 
the expression "new covenant " meant to the Jewish mind, read Jer. 
31 : 31-34, and note the prominent place occupied by the "new cov- 
enant " in early Christian thought, as seen in Heb. 8:6-13. 

2. In view of these statements, whom do you judge that Jesus con- 
sidered to be the contracting parties in the covenant of which He spoke 
at the paschal supper ? What did each covenant to the other ? Note 
the significant last clause of Matt. 26 : 28, which connects the death of 
Jesus with the forgiveness of sin. Is there anything like this in the 
classic passage in Jeremiah just cited ? 

3. It is evident that the death of Jesus is here represented by Him 
as bringing men and God together in intimate covenant fellowship. It 
must have been a great comfort to Him to feel that by His death He 
was accomplishing this result for "many." Is there any hint in the 
passage as to how this death served to bring men and God together ? 



4-8 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study VII. — Jesus' Conception of ^tmself an* Jis Jittssion 

{Continued} 

Sixth Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Synoptic Gospels (con- 
cluded) 

i. There is another passage, mysteriously suggestive, which ought 
to be examined, though it can scarcely be said to furnish the solution 
of the problem, and that is Mark 14 : 32-42, with its parallels, Matt. 
26 : 36-46 ; Luke 22 : 39-46. Read the passages, and note that the 
prime question here is, What was "the cup" ? What was there in 
the experience on the cross, the anticipation of which filled Jesus with 
a terrified amazement and distress that, in His own language, seemed 
like " death " to Him (Mark 14 : 33, 34) ? It hardly seems proba- 
ble that such agitation as He experienced when He repeatedly fell to 
the ground in agonizing prayer was occasioned merely by the shrinking 
from physical suffering, which is indeed natural, but which many 
martyrs have met triumphantly. Nor does it seem likely that it was 
the disgraceful mode of death, which was regarded by the Jews as so 
humiliating (Gal. 3 : 13). 

2. An examination of the crucifixion narrative shows that it was 
not the crucifixion itself that killed Jesus, for the crucified often lived 
for days and sometimes, it is said, finally died of starvation. Pilate 
could scarcely believe that Jesus was already dead (Mark 15 : 44). 
Jesus did not grow gradually weaker, but was able at the moment of 
death to utter a great shout (Mark 15 : 37). 

3. The query then is, What was it to which Jesus looked forward 
with such dread in Gethsemane, which caused Him His chief suffering 
on Calvary, and really killed Him ? If this question can be answered 
with any degree of satisfaction, some light may be thrown upon the 
question of the significance that He attached to His death. Consider 
this question and give the best answer you can. In this connection 
read carefully the account of Jesus' conduct and utterances upon the 
cross. Bear in mind what His attitude toward men had always been, 
and consider whether it affords any explanation of the mental distress 
that killed Him. 

" Was it for crimes that I had done 
He groaned upon the tree ? 
Amazing pity ! Grace unknown ! 
And love beyond degree ! " — Watts. 

49 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

I«1JUIJIIIIHUIM»I».HIIUIU»MJ.BMI.II U»UI I ■ Ml IIIU'III ■ II UIIXIH— ^— — «— »»JW»1^M»««0. 

Study VII.— %tm^ Conception of |)utt£self ana |)is JHtesion 

( Continued ) 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

I. To-day review the discussions of the past week, and summarize 
all that has been ascertained regarding Jesus' view of the significance of 
His death. Think of His attitude toward His death as a part of His 
own real religious experience. He lived in a world of spiritual realities, 
and spoke with authority to the world, because He spoke out of His own 
experience. This must have been especially the case in the subject 
under discussion, which was evidently one of supreme importance in 
the thought of Jesus. He did not suffer in any merely official capacity, 
nor merely to carry out a program in any perfunctory way, but because 
there was, in the nature of the case, some adequate cause for the real 
and intense mental distress that He exhibited in Gethsemane and on the 
cross. 

It has become clear that in the mind of Jesus there was some connec- 
tion between His experience of this distressful death and the well-being 
of great numbers. In reviewing the week's work sum up the evidence 
that Jesus perceived ( I ) the fact of such connection and (2) the nature 
of the connection. 

" We may not know, we cannot tell, 
What pains He had to bear ; 
But we believe it was for us 
He hung and suffered there. 

" He died that we might be forgiven 5 
He died to make us good, 
That we might go at last to heaven, 
Saved by His precious blood." 

Cecil Frances Alexander. 



SO 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VIII.— %zm&' Conception of Ij)un$elf an* |)is ffiimim 

(Continued*) 

First Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Gospel of John 

1. We now turn from the Synoptic Gospels to the Gospel of John. 
Read John 2 : 19-22, which contains Jesus' first allusion to His death, 
an allusion obscure and, at the time, unintelligible. 

2. Read 3 : 1 - 1 5, with special attention to the last two verses. 
The expression " lifted up " is ambiguous and probably did not sug- 
gest crucifixion to the mind of Nicodemus. Consider whether 2:19, 
8 : 28, and 12:32 indicate that Jesus Himself had in mind the cruci- 
fixion when He used the phrase. If He did, He is here presenting 
the significance of His death in the figure of the brass serpent in the 
wilderness. Read Num. 21 : 4-9. Does the statement here in John 
assert that there is any connection between the dying of Jesus and the 
eternal living of men ? Does it assert anything regarding the nature of 
such connection ? That is, does it show how the dying of Jesus serves 
to secure the eternal life of men ? 

This reference to the incident in the wilderness shows with what 
thoughts Jesus read the Scriptures. Just as in nature He saw every- 
where suggestions of great moral truths, which He wrought into para- 
ble and illustration, so, as He read the law and the prophets, He saw 
many suggestions of Himself and illustrations of the significance of His 
activity (cf. Luke 24 : 27). Try reverently to imagine the sensations 
of Jesus as it became evident to Him that these statements in the He- 
brew Scriptures referred to Himself as a Messiah destined to suffer. 



51 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VIII. — ^TefiJtJfi* Conception of himself an* pi& Jftigfiiion 

( Continued) 

Second Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Gospel of John (con- 
tinued) 

i . In another passage in John, Jesus speaks of His death under the 
figure of the death of the devoted shepherd. Read John 10 : 1-18, 
noting carefully all sentences that bear upon the question under dis- 
cussion. 

2. The Pharisees had excommunicated an innocent man from the 
synagogue (9 : 34), which was a terrible disaster, practically shutting 
him out from all social and business life. They had assumed to be the 
" door " through which all who entered God's " fold " must pass. In 
opposition to this claim Jesus asserted that He was Himself the " door " 
of the sheep (v. 7). They had represented themselves to be the 
"shepherds," but Jesus denied their right to the title, and asserted 
that He was Himself the "shepherd'* (v. 11). He proceeds to 
describe the various aspects of the relation that He as shepherd sustains 
to the flock of God, and in v. 11 mentions a readiness to lay down 
life in defence of His sheep as one of the characteristics of a true shep- 
herd. This might seem to be no more than a mere readiness to die, 
but vv. 15-18 make it evident that Jesus was anticipating an actual 
death. 

3. Note everything to be learned from this passage on the following 
points : What two motives led Jesus to lay down His life ? What 
good did it do the sheep to have the shepherd die ? That is, is there 
any hint here as to zv/iy, and how, the death of Jesus was beneficial 
to men ? 

4. This discourse of Jesus brings out with peculiar force the tender 
feeling that Jesus had for those for whom He died. His compassion 
had just been strongly excited by the peculiarly pathetic case of the 
man who, after long years of blindness, had been introduced into a 
new world of vision only to experience the spitefully brutal treatment 
of those who presumed to stand as shepherds over the flock of God. 
His compassion, so stimulated, seemed to overleap the bounds of racial 
distinction and, perhaps, penetrating the future, to include generations 
yet unborn (v. 16). 



52 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VIII.— Meatus* Conception of J>tnuself an* {Jts ffiimvn 

(Continued} 

Third Day: Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death according to the Gospel of John (con- 
cluded) 

i. Another impressive utterance of Jesus that seems to have a bear- 
ing upon the question of His attitude toward His death is found in John 
1 2 : 24. Note in the context the evidence that the thought of death 
was engaging His mind, vv. 7, 8, 10, 23, 25, 27, 32, 33. 

The figure is that of the grain of wheat, that, when buried in the 
earth, multiplies itself through its own death into the many grains that 
fill the head of a new wheat stalk. 

2. What light does this utterance throw on (1) the motive that 
actuated Jesus, or (2) the result that He hoped to gain by His death? 
What was the "loneliness" that He seemed to dread? See other 
expressions of His desire for the society of men in John 14:3; 17: 24. 
Cf. Rev. 7 : 9,10. Why should Jesus care for the society of men ? 

3. Examine 12:32, 33 in the light of this thought. This passage 
pictures men attracted from all directions to the person of Jesus by the 
sight of His death — "redemption by attraction." What was there 
about the death of Christ that renders Him attractive to men ? 

"The cross of Christ, as if it were the glittering eye of God, has in 
a most wondrous way held man spell-bound, and made him listen to its 
strange story * like a three years' child ' who ' cannot choose but hear. ' 
Were not the fact so familiar, men would call it miraculous. 
We can hardly imagine what the cross then was — so different has it now 
become. It stood almost below hatred, was the instrument of death to 
the guiltiest and most servile. . . . The cross did not eclipse His 
name, His name transfigured the cross, making it luminous, radiant, 
a light for the ages, a sign of the gentleness of God." 

Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 



53 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VIII. — Jeans' Conception of {Utnselt anfc JUs f&Liumn 

( Continued} 

Fourth Day : Jesus' Conception of the Significance of 
His Death (concluded) 

i. We have seen Jesus presenting His death and its significance 
under the figure of the ransom, the paschal lamb, the covenant blood, 
the brass serpent in the wilderness, the dying shepherd, and the grain 
of wheat in the ground. Endeavor now to sum up the work of the 
last ten days by answering as definitely as you can the following ques- 
tions : What relation did Jesus consider His death to sustain to the 
development of His own religious life and character ? Did He con- 
sider His death to be a source of advantage to others ? If so, of what 
advantage was it to them ? How did it secure them this advantage ? 

2. There has been little difficulty in answering all these questions 
except the last. It is the one upon which the teaching of Jesus is the 
least explicit. And, indeed, as has been said before, it is difficult to see 
how He could have given an explicit explanation of the fact of His 
death to those whom He could not convince that He must die. The 
question must be left at this point to be taken up again in Part II, 
where it will be in place to inquire whether the apostles later saw more 
clearly the significance of His death. 

3. Before leaving the subject it is proper to raise one question. The 
dominant thought in the mind of Jesus we have discovered to be, that 
He regarded His life as a perfect revelation of God. He assumed to 
show men in His own person what God is like. This assumption He 
made most clearly the night before He was crucified (John 14:9). 
Was it in any sense also true of Him the next morning, when He 
hung upon the cross suffering something far more dreadful than the 
pain in the palms of His hands, that whoever saw Him saw the 
Father ? That is, can Jesus' conception of the significance of His 
death find a place under His general thought of Himself as the revela- 
tion of the Father ? 

" When I survey the wondrous cross 

On which the Prince of Glory died, 
My richest gain I count but loss, 
And pour contempt on all my pride. 

" Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, 

Save in the death of Christ, my God : 
All the vain things that charm me most — 
I sacrifice them to His blood. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



" See, from His head, His hands, His feet, 
Sorrow and love flow mingled down ! 
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
Or thorns compose so rich a crown ? 

" Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were an offering far too small, 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all ! " — Watts. 



Study VIII.— Yearns' Conception of himself anU ^tfi JHissiion 

( Continued) 

Fifth Day : Review of Part I 

i . There are now three days for the review of Part I, and for 
making in writing a definite statement of results. The principal ques- 
tions are, Who did Jesus think Himself to be ? What did He con- 
sider to be the chief purpose of His life ? What did He consider to 
be the method of accomplishing this purpose ? In answering these 
questions do not be content with mere titles or words, but inquire always 
what they really meant to Jesus. Perhaps you will find it convenient 
to put each of these questions at the top of a blank page, and under- 
neath to make note of all suggestions that may occur to you, in the 
course of the review, as possibly contributing to an answer. Out of 
this material you will be able to make your final statement. To-day 
read over Studies I-III, with a view to seeing the connection between 
them, and to seizing upon everything that contributes to an answer to 
the questions stated above. 



Sixth Day : Review of Part I (continued) 

To-day read over Studies IV- VI, following the suggestions made 
yesterday. 



55 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 
Study VIII.— ^eatta' Conception of J>tmgelf antr Ij)ta JHtemon 

( Concluded') 
Seventh Day : Summary of Part I 

1 . Make the best statements you can in reply to the questions asked 
in the Fifth Day's Study, using the material you have been gathering 
in the review of the last few days, and the conclusions regarding the 
significance of the death of Jesus recorded on the fourth day of the 
week. 

2. We have become so accustomed to the sound of the words of 
the New Testament that the thought they express does not impress us 
as it would impress one who might hear them for the first time. The 
real marvel of the self-consciousness of Jesus does not appear to us, until 
we try in imagination to attribute His words to some other person. 
Select in thought the most exemplary person of your acquaintance, and 
imagine Him making such statements as these : " Any person who 
does not love me better than he loves father and mother, and who 
would not sacrifice his life for my sake, is not worthy of the friendship 
of such a person as I am." " I shall one day resurrect the dead." 
" I shall send out my angels into all the world to summon men to 
judgment." "I have sufficient discrimination to judge all men unerr- 
ingly, and to send them into misery or blessedness. Their attitude 
toward me will be what determines their blessedness or misery." " I 
am an independent source of life to men, just as God is" (John 
5 : 26). "lam the light of the world." " No one will ever find 
God except through me." "If anyone wishes to know what kind 
of person God is, let him study my daily life. Whoever sees me, 
sees God." "If any man believes in me, he can ask what he will 
of God, and get it." " If any man loves me and does what I require 
of him, God and I will dwell in his soul." Suppose that the most 
exemplary friend you have should, in a series of private conversations 
extending over a year or more, make it evident that he had such an 
opinion of himself as these statements indicate. What would you 
think of him ? There are only three theories that can be held in ex- 
planation of such a man's conduct, and all three were advanced by 
His contemporaries, to account for the conduct of Jesus. 

The first is that He was a deceiver. Read John 8:13; Matt. 
27 : 63. To be sure He was very kind, but this must have been only 
to make His deception more effective. His plan was not simply to 
secure a Jewish Messiahship but a world-empire. It was the most 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

colossal case of hypocrisy, and revolt against God, known among 
men. He must have been in league with Satan himself (Mark 3:22). 
If Jesus was a deceiver, Judas Iscariot was a patriot to be classed with 
Washington ; Pontius Pilate was an unwilling, but real, benefactor 
of the race ; and the Jewish Sanhedrin, a body deserving to be classed 
with the great legislative bodies that have wrought for the liberties of 
men. But, strangely enough, out from this arch-hypocrite has flowed 
the purest religious movement that is known to men. 

A second supposition, more likely to be made, is that Jesus, though 
a very good man, was Himself under a delusion. This view was held 
by some of His contemporaries, John 10:20; Mark 3:21. It could 
not be maintained that the delusion was a merely temporary aberration, 
for it was woven into the very warp and woof of His thought. These 
ideas mastered Him. He gave Himself wholly to them. A man 
who is wholly mastered by such fundamental delusions regarding him- 
self and his mission is simply hopelessly insane. Jesus, on this sup- 
position, becomes the world's great crazy man. On this supposition, 
strangely enough, Jesus' wonderful ethical teachings have to be con- 
sidered as the product of a deranged mind, and all the subsequent de- 
velopment of the Church in the world has to be regarded as originating 
in the pious ravings of a fundamentally unbalanced man! 

The only other explanation of the consciousness of Jesus, granting 
that the portrait of Jesus given us in the Gospels is trustworthy, is 
that He really was what He supposed Himself to be, — the perfect 
revelation of God the Father, the Lord and Saviour of mankind. On 
this supposition the astounding assumptions made by Jesus do not de- 
stroy the symmetry and poise of his personality, and they enhance, 
rather than vitiate, the value of His religious teaching. There seems 
to us no incongruity in taking the attributes of God and ascribing them 
to this personality presented in the Gospels. It does not offend us to 
hear Him say that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father, for the 
world has produced no conception of God that is higher, or more 
heartily approved by its moral sense, than that afforded by the person- 
ality of Jesus. The only possible escape from the theory that Jesus 
was what He is represented in the Gospels to have been is to suppose 
that the portrait of Jesus in the Gospels is an imaginary or exaggerated 
sketch, with no corresponding historical reality behind it. To con- 
sider this supposition would involve a discussion of the historicity of 
the Gospels, which would be out of place here. It may be said in 
passing, however, that such a theory does not avoid the miraculous, 
for there seems to be no escape from the alternative, stated long ago 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

by Horace Bushnell, that the literary creation of such a character as 
the Jesus of the Gospels would be as great a miracle as the real exist- 
ence of such a personality. 

3. There are various ways of stating what Jesus conceived to be 
His mission in the world, probably none of them adequate to the facts, 
because our appreciation of the significance of His character and life is 
as yet imperfect. Compare the following statement with the one you 
have already made. Jesus conceived Himself to be, in His life, death, 
and resurrection, a clear, adequate, and final revelation to men of God 
the Father ; and as such, sought to attach all men to Himself in an 
obedient affection which, and which alone, should transform them into 
such sons as God desires and ought to have. 

The great temptations that He so victoriously resisted, temptations 
commensurate with the greatness of His personality and the importance 
of His work, seem to have been temptations to become something that 
the Father was not ; to be content with some other result than the 
moral transformation of individual men ; and to attempt to secure this 
transformation in some other way than through the suffering that a 
good person must experience, when he enters into the life of a bad 
person, that is very dear to him, with the purpose of morally re-forming, 
or regenerating him. 



53 



PART II 

THE APOSTOLIC CONCEPTION OF JESUS 
AND HIS MISSION 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX. — W§z Apostolic ConfiCtOttSliefilfii 
First Day : The Apostles of Jesus Christ 

1 . The narrative of the life and the teaching of Jesus contained 
in the Gospels originated with the apostles, but in the Gospels the 
apostles do not, to any considerable extent and avowedly, present their 
own views regarding the person and mission of Jesus. To ascertain 
what these views were it is necessary to examine the body of literature 
that has come down to us under the general title of the " Epistles." 
Most of these " Epistles" were written by busy missionaries to meet 
special emergencies in the life of the various churches with which these 
missionaries were connected. They are not, therefore, systematic and 
comprehensive presentations of Christian truth. Certain truths de- 
manded by the emergency are stated with great clearness in these letters, 
but other truths seem rather to be casually assumed. The purpose of 
the study of the next few weeks will be to ascertain what the apostles 
thought of the personality and mission of Jesus. It is appropriate that 
such an investigation should be introduced by a brief consideration of 
the apostles themselves and the apostolic consciousness. 

2. First consider briefly who they were. Read the apostolic register 
in Mark 3 : 13-19. What are the two qualifications for apostleship 
mentioned in Acts 1 : 21-26 ? Hard and fast lines were not drawn, 
for one of these requirements Paul could not meet, and yet he con- 
ceived himself to be an apostle. On what did he base his conviction 
that he was an apostle ? Read Gal. 1 : 1 ; I Cor. 9:1, 2 ; Acts 
26 : 15-18. The title seems also to have been loosely applied to some 
who had been connected with Jesus during His lifetime, and who per- 
haps had been among the five hundred who saw Him after His resur- 
rection (I Cor. 15 : 6). Read Acts 14 : 14 and Rom. 16 : 7. 

Certain persons in whose character Paul had not confidence seem to 
have claimed the title, probably on the ground of some connection 
with Jesus during His lifetime (II Cor. 11 : 4-18). 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX. — W$Z Apostolic CoilfifriOttSiJiesifll 
Second Day : The Training of the Twelve 

i . It was not unusual for a rabbi to have disciples. John the Bap- 
tist was the center of a company of disciples to whom he probably 
gave religious instruction and to whom he certainly taught forms of 
prayer (Luke 11 : i). But Jesus' relation to the Twelve seems to 
have been characterized by some peculiar features growing out of the 
unique character of His own personality and mission. The number 
twelve must have seemed to His critics to have a suspicious political 
significance during the days when He was suspected of having Mes- 
sianic aspirations, and it certainly had a political significance in the 
minds of the Twelve. Read Matt. 19 : 28. Very early Jesus began 
to give them a share in His own work. Read Mark 3 : 14, 1 5 ; 6 : 7- 
13, 30. In the latter part of His ministry He withdrew to a consid- 
erable extent from the world and concentrated His attention upon the 
Twelve. He instilled into their minds the idea that they must make 
known to the nation and to the world what He was privately teaching 
them, although, as He fairly warned them, by doing so they would 
incur the dangerous hatred of which He was Himself already the object. 
Read carefully Matt. 10 : 24-33 ; 28 : 16-20. 

2. According to the Gospel of John He encouraged them to think 
that the share in His own activity that He had already given them 
would in the future grow into something greater than even He Himself 
had yet accomplished. Read John 14 : 12, 13. 

And yet they were slow to take in His fundamental ideas. They 
failed utterly to catch His idea of redemption through suffering, and, 
even after the resurrection, they had not discarded the conception cur- 
rent among their countrymen, that the Kingdom of God was a political 
organization of pious Jews (Acts 1:6). When Jesus was already 
under the shadow of the cross they were disgracefully quarreling over 
the prospective political offices in the new Kingdom (Mark 9 : 30-34 ; 
10 : 32-41), and Jesus finally had to say to them that unless they 
ceased to be of this spirit they would enter, not into the Kingdom of 
God, but into the fires of Gehenna. Read Mark 9 : 43-50, noticing 
particularly the last sentence. 

3. In spite of their slowness to perceive Jesus' fundamental ideas, 
His purpose for them was being accomplished. One reason for ap- 
pointing them had been "that they might be with Him" (Mark 
3 : 14), and they were steadily storing up impressions of His person- 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



alky, the significance of which they probably only partially realized at 
the time. They also heard Him repeat in synagogue, market, and 
by the sea-shore the great truths that filled His mind. Consider the 
significance of Mark 4:33, 34 in this connection. Many of these 
statements of truth may have been to them like words learned by chil- 
dren with little conception of their meaning, but destined in after years 
to fill their minds with real truth. Their minds in after years must 
often have reverted to the experiences of the days of their discipleship. 
It may be a true glimpse into the consciousness of "St. John the Aged " 
in Ephesus that some nameless poet has described: 

" Oh, what holy walks we had 
Through harvest fields, and desolate, dreary wastes ! 
And oftentimes He leaned upon my arm, 
Wearied and wayworn. I was young and strong 
And so upbore Him. Lord, now I am weak, 
And old, and feeble ! Let me rest on Thee ! 
So, put Thine arm around me. Closer still ! 
How strong Thou art ! The twilight draws apace. 
Come, let us leave these noisy streets, and take 
The path to Bethany ; for Mary's smile 
Awaits us at the gate, and Martha's hands 
Have long prepared the cheerful evening meal. 
Come, James, the Master waits ; and Peter, see, 
Has gone some steps before. 

" What say you, friends ? 
That this is Ephesus, and Christ has gone 
Back to His Kingdom ? Aye, 'tis so, 'tis so. 
I know it all ; and yet, just now, I seemed 
To stand once more upon my native hills, 
And touch my Master. Oh, how oft I've seen 
The touching of His garment bring back strength 
To palsied limbs ! I feel it has to mine." 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX. — %\t ^tpofiitOltC ConSCtOttgHC0fi! 

Third Day : Consciousness of Special Connection with 
Jesus Christ 

i . An examination of the Epistles, made with a view to under- 
standing the apostolic consciousness and ascertaining how it must have 
felt to be an apostle, naturally brings to light first of all a consciousness 
on the part of the apostles of peculiar previous connection with Jesus. 
In the opening sentences of all but four of Paul's letters he formally 
designates himself as Jesus Christ's "apostle." Examine some of 
them, particularly Gal. I : I. The fact that his right to the title was 
disputed perhaps accounts, in part, for his frequent use of it. See I 
Cor. 9:1. Note also I Peter 1 : 1 and II Peter 1 : 1 . While John 
does not use the title in the opening sentences of I John, there is in all 
apostolic literature no more impressive appeal to connection with Jesus 
Christ as the source of the apostolic message than that found in these 
sentences. Read very carefully I John 1 : 1-5, noting what it is that 
is emphasized with three-fold repetition. To whom does the pronoun 
" we " in this paragraph refer ? Read also 1 : 1 4 in the Gospel of John. 

2. The more clearly the apostles realized the exalted character of 
the personality of Jesus, the more significant must the fact of their 
months or years of association with Him have seemed to them. Read, 
for instance, such a passage as Phil. 2:6-11. Conceive an apostle to 
be speaking these words and remembering a period in his life when the 
personality here described had stood by his side in the fishing-boat, 
hauling with him at the heavy nets, or had sat at his table, or had 
dropped behind the rest of the company, as they walked through the 
country, to talk privately with him. 

" Some seventy years ago 
I was a fisher by the sacred sea. 
It was at sunset. How the tranquil tide 
Bathed dreamily the pebbles ! How the light 
Crept up the distant hills, and in its wake 
Soft purple shadows wrapped the dewy fields ! 
And then He came and called me. Then I gazed, 
For the first time, on that sweet face. Those eyes 
From out of which, as from a window, shone 
Divinity, looked on my inmost soul, 
And lighted it forever. Then His words 
Broke on the silence of my heart, and made 
The whole world musical. Incarnate Love 
Took hold of me and claimed me for its own. 
I followed in the twilight, holding fast 
His mantle." — Anonymous. St. John the Aged. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX. — (Efje Apostolic Consciousnessi 
Fourth Day : Consciousness of Commission 

i. The dominant impression with which the apostles came forth 
from this period of association with Jesus was that of vocatio?i. The 
word " apostle " — " one sent forth with orders " — itself implies com- 
mission. These men knew definitely what they were in the world 
for. 

One of the most impressive features of Jesus' character had been His 
strenuous sense of vocation. According to the Gospel of John He 
spoke of Himself some forty times as one ** sent. " This sense of being 
"sent" He bequeathed to His apostles. Read John 20 : 21. The 
more clearly they realized the significance of His mission the more pro- 
foundly they were impressed with the reality and importance of their 
own. 

See Paul's sense of this as expressed in I Tim. 1 : 1 2, 13 ; Gal. 
1:1. Read also Acts 26 : 12-20. Imagine yourself conversing 
with. Paul as he was about to enter upon some new and difficult field 
of work, and consider what sense he would have had of a mighty 
sending power behind him. 

2. The careers entered upon in obedience to the apostolic appoint- 
ment of Jesus they conceived to be of world-wide significance. This 
followed necessarily from their conception of the career of Jesus as 
world-wide in its significance. They had stepped out from the nar- 
row confines of little Palestine and were now, in their own thought, 
the leading characters in the great world-drama. They were objects 
of interest even to other worlds. Note Paul's dramatic presentation 
of this conception in I Cor. 4:9. 

3. What did they conceive to have been Jesus' estimate of the im- 
portance of their office as compared with that of other ministering of- 
ficials of the Church? Read I Cor. 12 : 28 ; Eph. 4:11, 12. 
Note also that Paul classes them with Jesus Christ as constituting the 
foundation upon which the vast superstructure of the Church rests (Eph. 
2 : 20-22). Read II Cor. 3 : 7-1 3 to ascertain what Paul thought 
of the importance of his position and work as compared with the posi- 
tion and work of Moses. 



*5 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study IX. — C&e ^pOfiitOlic Cotlfiictottfiltiefifli 
Fifth Day : Consciousness of Commission (continued) 

i . The question arises, What did the apostles consider themselves 
commissioned to do ? What did they conceive to be their vocation ? 
Read the following passages, as well as any others that may occur to 
you, and formulate a reply. Rom. I : 5 ; I Cor. 1:17; 2:1-5; 
II Cor. 5 : 20 ; Eph. 3 : 1-13 ;• II Tim. I : II. It is not desir- 
able at this time to attempt anything more than a general reply to this 
question, for the matter will come again for detailed discussion when 
the apostolic conception of the disciple and his mission is considered in 
Part IV. 

2. The apostles considered the gospel as a trust committed to them 
by God. Read I Thess. 2 : 4. Paul sometimes spoke of certain 
salient truths of the Gospel as " mysteries," having in mind perhaps 
the "mysteries" of the Greek secret societies. These Christian 
"mysteries" had for ages lain concealed in the mind of God but 
were now revealed to the apostles, who served as God's "stewards," 
or administrators to disburse them to all men. With this thought in 
mind read Eph. 3 : I -I I, adopting the marginal reading "steward- 
ship" instead of " dispensation " in vv. 2 and 9. 

3. It follows from this conception of the apostolic commission that 
it carries with it a strong sense of accountability. Read carefully 
I Cor. 4 : 1-5. To whom did they expect to report ? What would 
constitute a successful report? Read I Thess. 2 : 19, 20. 

" Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach, 
I went for many years about the world, 
Saying ' It was so : so I heard and saw,' 
Speaking as the case asked : and men believed." 

Browning, A Death in the Desert. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX. — Cf)e StpOfiitOltC ConSCtOttgtWSfii 
Sixth Day : The Consciousness of Authority 

i . A prominent feature of the apostolic consciousness, as it incident- 
ally reveals itself in the apostolic writings, is a marked sense of author- 
ity. Note the evidence of this in I Cor. 7:8-12, where in v. 10 
Paul quotes a commandment of Jesus current in the Church, and in v. 
1 2 puts a commandment of his own beside it, providing for a case not 
discussed by Jesus. Read also I Cor. 14 : 37. Consider the bear- 
ing of the explicit statements in II Cor. 13 : 2, 3, 10. Compare the 
basis for this sense of authority afforded by such statements of Jesus as 
those in Matt. 18:18, John 20 : 23. 

2. This evident consciousness of authority must have been strongly 
corroborated by the power to perform occasional miracles which, in at 
least two passages, Paul represents himself to have possessed. Read 
II Cor. 12:12; Rom. 15:18, 19, and compare Acts 2 : 22. The 
fact that they found themselves in some measure able to continue the 
miracle working of Jesus must have greatly encouraged them to feel 
that, in some measure at least, He had also delegated to them au- 
thority. Supporting this sense of authority was their fundamental con- 
sciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit, one evidence of which 
indorsement they must have found in their power to work occasional 
miracles. 

3. If this consciousness of authority ever tended to produce undue 
exhilaration, there was one consideration ever present in the minds of 
the apostles that tended to subdue and chasten them. Read Col. 1 : 
24 ; I Cor. 4 : 9. 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study IX.— W$t Apostolic Congctottsnesifii 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

It is a most remarkable body of men that stands grouped about Jesus 
Christ at the beginning of Christian history. The least of their occupa- 
tions at the time seemed that of authorship, but there has been no literary 
influence more potent than that of their writings in shaping the thought 
of the world. It has changed the current of civilization in many na- 
tions. Furthermore, the influence of this literature, instead of waning 
in the crush of books that pour from the press in our day, seems to be 
but just beginning. They were never before so carefully and widely 
studied as to-day. It is evident that Jesus, who Himself wrote no 
book, intended through them to bring the influence of His thought to 
bear upon the life of the world. This fact gives them their authority. 
Their authors had a unique experience with Jesus, and out of this ex- 
perience, shaped and dominated by the Holy Spirit, there issued, in ac- 
cordance with the evident plan of God, this literature, that is trans- 
forming the thought and life of the world. 

Review the Studies of the week, and gather up what seem to you 
to be the principal features of the apostolic consciousness. Also answer 
one question closely related to the matter discussed in the Study, 
though not considered in just this form, — What were the principal 
motives that actuated the apostles in their lives of strenuous endeavor ? 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study X.— Cjje Apostolic Conception of tlje life of Jefitts 

First Day : The Apostle Peter's Appreciation of 
the Personal Characteristics of Jesus 

1 . In the last Study devotion to the person of Jesus was seen to be 
a fundamental characteristic of the apostles. The reason for this de- 
votion is found in the fact that Jesus possessed certain qualities that 
made His personality attractive. No person likes another unless he 
finds in the other certain qualities, real or potential, that render the 
person likable. After Jesus disappeared in the heavens, the Messianic 
conception held by the apostles must have greatly enlarged, and their 
reverence must have deepened. But while simple power and high 
position may produce awe, they do not produce affection. Affection 
finds its ground in attractive personal qualities. The only means the 
apostles had of knowing the personal qualities of their glorified Lord, 
now in the heavens, was their previous acquaintance with Him in His 
humiliation. When Zacchaeus thought of the glorified Christ in the 
heavens, he was able to think of Him as possessing the gracious qual- 
ities that became evident when He lodged for a night in the unpopular 
Jericho home. 

Furthermore, the significance of the death, resurrection, and subse- 
quent glorified life of Jesus depends wholly upon the general character 
and nature of Him who died, rose, and lives again. This personal 
character and nature were revealed in the earthly life of Jesus. 

2. The question, then, is, What personal qualities of Jesus do the 
apostles represent themselves to have found most impressive ? What 
reply would they have given to one who asked them, What kind of 
person was your rabbi ? The earliest apostolic allusions to the life of 
Jesus are found in the addresses of Peter recorded in the Acts. Read 
Acts io : 34-38, especially v. 38, and note (1) what it was in the 
activity of Jesus, and (2) what it was in the relation of Jesus to God, 
that impressed Peter most deeply. What further light is thrown on 
the latter point by Peter's statement in Acts 2 : 22 ? Also by the 
statement in II Pet. 1 : 16-18 (cf. Mark 9:2-8) ? 

3. What further personal quality of Jesus is seen from I Pet. 2:22 
to have impressed Peter ? What does <( guile " mean in this sentence ? 
Does I Pet. 1:19 have any bearing on this point ? What further 
quality is described in I Pet. 2:23? Had Peter seen any instance of 
this? Consider also 3 : 18. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study X. — (£|)e &pogtoiit Conception of tjje life of Sestts 

Second Day : The Apostle Paul's Appreciation of 
the Personal Characteristics of Jesus 

1. It is possible that Paul may have seen Jesus in the streets of Jeru- 
salem, but there is no positive proof of it. The statement in I Cor. 
9 : i probably refers to the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to 
Paul ; and the statement in II Cor. 5:16 may mean that Christ is no 
longer to be thought of as a Jew. Yet Paul felt for Jesus a depth of 
personal affection such as could be produced only by the recognition of 
certain attractive qualities in the object of affection. Read Phil. 3 : 7- 
10. The query is, What had Paul seen in the life and character of 
Jesus that produced such affection ? 

2. His momentous interview with Jesus near Damascus occurred, 
of course, after the death of Jesus, and its consideration is not strictly 
in place here. However, all that Paul heard from others about the 
life of Jesus, he must have interpreted in the light of this Damascus ex- 
perience. Several characteristics of Jesus were manifested in this inter- 
view, — a power to call to account, great patience, a large capacity for 
forgiveness with no trace of resentment, and strong love for men. 
Read very carefully Paul's account of this interview in Acts 26 : 9-18, 
and the summary of his impressions given in I Tim. 1 : 12-16, not- 
ing the characteristics just mentioned and any others that you find. 

3. Among the few characteristics of the earthly life of Jesus that are 
incidentally mentioned by Paul, note the following : II Cor. 5:21; 
10:1. What characteristic is specified in Rom. 15:3? What 
motive lay back of the characteristic specified in II Cor. 8:9. Per- 
haps the most distinct and yet comprehensive characterization of Jesus' 
earthly life found in all Paul's writings is expressed in one word that 
occurs in Phil. 2:7. What word is it ? Its profound influence upon 
the life of Paul is seen in the fact that he uses the same word in II 
Cor. 4 : 5 to describe his own life. Perhaps the incident afterward 
described in John's Gospel, 13 : 1-11, was known to Paul, as well as 
the statement now found in Mark 10 : 45. 



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Study X.— W$t gpofitoiic Conception of \\z Life of Jesus 

Third Day : Personal Characteristics of Jesus Men- 
tioned in Hebrews 

i . The references in Hebrews to the life of Jesus are more explicit 
than those of any other epistle. Certain scenes in the narrative of the 
life of Jesus seem to have appealed strongly to the quick imagination 
and deeply emotional nature of the eloquent author of this epistle. 

2. In the study of statements made in this epistle remember that it 
is merely the characteristics of Jesus that are to be noted now. The 
larger question of the significance of His life to the life of the world 
will be considered on another day. Read carefully 2 : 10-18. What 
are the four or five personal characteristics of Jesus alluded to in the 
passage ? What scene, or scenes, in the life of Jesus do you suppose 
the author had in mind ? 

3. Read 4 : 14-5 : 10. What are the four or five personal char- 
acteristics alluded to by the author in this passage ? What scenes in 
the life of Jesus had the author in mind here ? 

4. Read also 3:1,2 and determine what quality of Jesus that had 
impressed the author is mentioned here. Can you think of any in- 
stances in the life of Jesus that would afford ground for such a charac- 
terization of Him ? Remember to record all these characteristics so 
that you can sum them up easily at the end of the investigation. 

5. There is no more inspiring portrayal of the exalted Christ to be 
found in the New Testament than that which is so vividly presented in 
this epistle, and at the same time there is no more realistic presentation 
of His previous struggle with temptation and hostile opposition. Try 
to bring yourself to the view-point of this author, and to think of 
Jesus as really being to-day such an one as is described in 1:1-6. 
Then think of Him as looking back in His personal history to the ex* 
perience described in 5 : 7-10. 

" By His sufferings He, ' though a Son, learned obedience.' There 
is no implied antithesis to former disobedience. He who was « without 
sin ' had never to unlearn, only to learn. His humanity, while at first 
equipped with everything that was native to man, had to acquire what- 
ever was acquirable. . . . Here lay the worth and meaning of 
His sorrow : it was His great educator. He went into it the one 
stainless child ; He came out of it the one obedient man. He en- 
tered its school only innocent ; He left it perfectly righteous.' ' 

Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study X.— W$z &pstoItc Conception of X\z Life of %zmz 

Fourth Day : The Apostle John's Appreciation of 
the Personal Characteristics of Jesus 

i . No other of the apostles came so near to the personal life of 
Jesus as did the one "whom Jesus loved." See John 13 : 23 ; 21 : 
20. No other apostle gives evidence of looking back upon the period 
of earthly discipleship with such keen appreciation of what it meant to 
him. Read once more I John 1 : 1-4, remembering that it was prob- 
ably written when the author was an aged man. In the case of this 
apostle, more than in the case of any other, one would like to inquire 
regarding the impression made by daily association with Jesus. 

2. Fortunately there is one brief statement in his writings that sums 
up his impression. Two striking characteristics stood out as he looked 
back across the years at the figure of Jesus. Read John 1 : 14-17. 

3. " Grace" means a fascinating, gladdening kindness, particularly 
kindness manifested to an inferior, or to one that cannot claim it as his 
right. As you remember the Gospel narrative, what actions of Jesus 
(1) in His personal intercourse with His apostles, and (2) in His 
intercourse with others, would John probably have cited as illustrations 
of His extraordinary kindness. See in John 13 : 1-5, especially v. 3, 
one incident that profoundly impressed John. Probably the instances 
in which John was rebuked for his own lack of " grace " would have 
been among the number. See Luke 9 : 49-56 ; Mark 10 : 35-45. 
John says that Jesus was "full" of grace. It overflowed steadily and 
the apostles experienced instance after instance of it (John 1 : 16). 

4. The other personal characteristic, "truth," seems to mean 
" honesty," " genuineness." He was full not only of " kindness " 
but of " honesty." He could not reconcile Himself to any insincerity. 
Especially in religious life all sham was repulsive to Him and called 
out His most searching criticisms. What would John have cited as 
instances of this? Read especially Matt. 23 : 23-28. Note also the 
jealous care with which He tried to keep His disciples free from prev- 
alent religious insincerity, Luke 12:1. Note also the casual com- 
ments made by John in his Gospel, 2 : 24, 25 ; 6 : 64. 

5. It is this combination of fascinating kindness and unswerving 
candor in infinite perfection that makes Jesus a " Saviour." We live 
day by day under the purifying influence of an infinite personality 
whose kindness and honesty are to be communicated increasingly to us 
whom He has called His "friends " (John 15 : 15). 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 



Study X.— Cfce Apostolic Conception of t&e Life of %tzv& 

Fifth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Sig- 
nificance of the Life of Jesus 

i . We have thus far noted the personal characteristics of Jesus, and 
have now to consider what significance to the apostolic mind a life 
possessed of such characteristics had for the world. One recognizes 
the difficulty of considering the earthly life of Jesus by itself, for 
it is the whole career of Jesus, His life, death, resurrection and 
continued spiritual existence, that are represented by the apostles as 
significant. Some things are said, however, about each of these 
periods or events in His career, and a consideration of them in detail 
leads to a clearer understanding of the career as a whole. 

2 . First of all get before you the list of characteristics that have been 
brought to light by the study of the last four days. 

3 . Now endeavor to answer the question, Of what significance was 
the life of Jesus to the world, in the apostolic thought ? Read first the 
Johannine view, which happens to be the most comprehensive and 
fundamental, as it appears in John I : 1 8. State in your own words 
what is here represented to be the function of the life of Jesus. Note 
also in this connection 1:14. Consider the significance of the title 
" Word " which John here applies to the personality of Jesus. What 
is the relation of the audible or legible "word" to the invisible 
thought? The origin of the expression "Word," or "Logos," as a 
title of the Messiah, cannot be discussed here. Read again I John 
1 : 1-4, and then note the significant word "message" in the next 
verse. Read also in the same connection Heb. 1:1,2. 

4. The most significant fact in the history of the human race is the 
fact that it has been spoken to by God. God has shown Himself to 
be persistently bent upon saying something to men, first through 
prophets and then, with increasing distinctness, through a "Son" 
(Heb. 1 : 1, 2). When a being like God shows Himself so deter- 
mined to say something to men, it must be something of importance to 
which it is worth while for all men to listen. Give the best answer 
you can out of your own personal experience to the question, What is 
the gist of the " message " that God has " spoken " to the world 
through the life of Jesus ? Let this be one of the questions which you 
often ask with the expectation of giving a steadily enlarging answer. 



73 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study X.— W$t Apostolic Conception of tfje life of JJesna 

Sixth Day: The Apostolic Conception of the Sig- 
nificance of the Life of Jesus (concluded) 

1. Read Heb. 2 : 10-18 with a view to answering this question : 
In what particulars does the author represent the earthly life of Jesus 
to have been of advantage to men ? One realizes here the difficulty of 
treating the life and death of Jesus separately, but endeavor now to see 
what the passage says about the life of Jesus, leaving its statements 
about the significance of His death for later study. It seems to be as- 
sumed that to do another real good you must come near to him, and 
establish first of all a relationship with him. How is the earthly life of 
Jesus represented as affording men a sense of His " brotherliness ' ' ? 
Read also 4 : 14-5 : 9, looking for light here too upon the significance 
of the life of Jesus. 

2. There is one sort of reference to the life of Jesus that does not 
occur as frequently as might be expected. It finds general statement 
in such passages as I Cor. 1 1 : 1 . What use is made of the life of 
Jesus in I Pet. 2 : 18-23 an ^ 4 : J ? Does Rom. 15:3 refer to the 
spirit of Jesus' life, or to that manifested in His death ? What is the 
particular in which imitation is urged here ? The entire career of 
Jesus, stretching from eternity to eternity, is viewed in Phil. 2 : jfF., 
but the earthly life is particularly prominent. What is the particular 
here in which imitation is urged ? 

3. It was not simply this or that personal characteristic that pro- 
duced the apostolic devotion. It was their combination in perfection 
and proportion that led to the worship of His personality as that of God. 
They could say of Him, r « We beheld His glory, glory as of the only 
begotten from the Father." (John 1 : 14.) 

4. Read again I Pet. 2:21,23. " When He suffered, threatened 
not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." It 
was His sense of the Father as a real presence to whom He might 
then and there " commit Himself" that enabled Him to maintain per- 
fect poise of heart, as well as of manner, before the angry and preju- 
diced judges all through the night of His trial. Perhaps Peter was 
thinking of the sad contrast presented by his own conduct through the 
lack of this sense when he was threatened and reviled on that same 
night ! 



74 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study X. — Cfre &po£Stoltc Conception of t&e life of Ueettei 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week to-day and make its results definite. 
Spread out before you in written form, where you can see them all at a 
glance, the characteristics of Jesus' earthly life that most deeply im- 
pressed the apostles, and the significance to their minds of the fact that 
He had appeared on earth and lived among men for a generation. 

" This is the earth he walked on ; not alone 
That Asian country keeps the sacred stain j 
Ah, not alone the far Juda?an plain, 
Mountain and river ! Lo, the sun that shone 

On him, shines now on us ; when the day is gone 
The moon of Galilee comes forth again 
And lights our path as his ; an endless chain 
Of years and sorrows makes the round world one. 

The air we breathe, he breathed — the very air 
That took the mold and music of his high 
And godlike speech. Since then shall mortal dare 

With base thought front the ever-sacred sky — 
Soil with foul deed the ground whereon he laid 
In holy death his pale, immortal head ! " 

Richard Watson Gilder, Holy Land. 



75 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI. — C&e Apostolic Conception of X\z Kefittttecteto C&ttet 

First Day : The Apostolic Belief in the Fact of 
the Resurrection 

i . It might seem natural that a study of the apostolic conception of 
the life of Jesus should be followed by an inquiry into the apostolic 
conception of the significance of His death, but the exhilarating thought 
of His resurrection seems first to have engaged the attention of the apos- 
tles, and their realization of the deep significance of His death came 
later after mature reflection. 

2. The earliest testimony to the fact of the resurrection is found in 
the letters of Paul. Before the Gospels or the Acts had taken their 
present literary form, this early Pauline testimony to the resurrection 
was in existence. The first letter to the Corinthian church was 
written between twenty and thirty years after the death of Jesus. 
Think of some event which occurred twenty-five years ago, in order 
to realize how short a time elapsed between the resurrection and the 
writing of this letter. Now read very carefully I Cor. 15:1-8. 
Hundreds of witnesses of the resurrection were still living (v. 6). 
Note that this passage refers to a time earlier than the date of the letter, 
when Paul had preached the resurrection to them (v. 1), and that it 
was then a part of the generally current gospel. Also at a still earlier 
time than this Paul had himself " received " it (v. 3). This testi- 
mony, then, in a thoroughly authenticated document, practically un- 
questioned in the history of New Testament criticism, reaches back to 
within a very few years of the resurrection itself, possibly to the very 
year of the resurrection, if, as is now maintained by some, Paul's con- 
version occurred in the year of the resurrection. Notice also the testi- 
mony to the resurrection in I Thess. 4 : 14. 

3 . In addition to these specific and impressive references to the resur- 
rection of Jesus, there is the fact that all the apostolic writers are full of 
exultant references to Him as a living personality. Something like a 
resurrection would be necessary to account for the general tone of this 
literature even if the resurrection were not specifically mentioned. 

4. Now read rapidly the later and more detailed narrative of the 
resurrection contained in the Gospels, particularly the account in Luke 
24 and Acts 1 : 1-11 ; also Matt. 28 : 16-20, imagining yourself as 
you read Luke 24, to be one of the two with whom He walked to 
Emmaus. 

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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI.— C&e Apostolic Conception of tlje Eefinroctefc Cbriat 

Second Day : The Apostolic Idea regarding the Place 
where the resurrected christ is 

1. Jesus was to the apostles the same person that they had previously 
known, but the resurrection did not simply put Him back where He 
had been before death. Jesus' resurrection was different from the 
experience that made Lazarus once more a familiar figure on the Beth- 
any streets. The personality of Jesus passed into a higher form of life, 
with new powers of self-manifestation. Note the new powers and 
perfect responsiveness of His body to spirit as seen in Luke 24 : 16-36 ; 
Acts 1:9; 9 : 3-5. 

2. The series of post-resurrection appearances which thoroughly 
identified Him as the Jesus they had known before His death was 
terminated by His disappearance in a cloud. Something said to them at 
that time seems to have produced a conviction that these appearances 
would not be indefinitely continued, and that there would be no further 
appearance until He should come in judgment. The question is, 
Where did they conceive Him to be after this final disappearance ? In 
order to answer this question read first the representation made by 
Peter in the early discourses in Acts, 2 : 24-36 ; 3 : 18-21 ; 5 : 30, 
31. What is meant by " exalted," and "at (margin) His right 
hand ' ' ? This language is more or less figurative. What is its under- 
lying thought ? Note that it does not imply great distance or inaccessi- 
bility, 3:16; 4:10, 30; 7: 55-60. Jesus is present as a personal 
object of faith, and deeply interested in His friends. See also Peter's 
representation in I Pet. 1 : 21 ; 3 : 22. 

3. What is the Pauline conception as found in Eph. I : 19-23 ; 
Phil. 2:8-11; Col. 3 : 1-4 ; I Thess. 1:10? 

4. See also the conception of the author of Hebrews, 1 : 1-4 ; 

4 : 14-16 ; 12:1, 2, 22-24. 

5. The conception of the Apocalypse is found in Rev. 3:21; 

5 : 6-14. Current religious phraseology, particularly that which is 
figurative, slips easily from our lips and we are readily satisfied with it. 
Endeavor to break through the coating of words that so easily crusts 
over the thought. Is it possible to tell where the apostles, as indicated 
in the passages cited above, thought that Jesus really was ? When you 
think of Him where do you conceive Him to be ? What has become 
of Him since He disappeared from the earth ? 

77 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI. — W$z Apostolic Conception of X\t Keammtefc Cfortet 

Third Day : The Apostolic Idea regarding the Place 
where the resurrected christ is (concluded) 

1. Another class of passages relating to the whereabouts of the res- 
urrected Jesus needs to be considered in close connection with those 
studied yesterday. They are found chiefly in Paul and John. 

2. State the view as it is expressed in Rom. 8 : 10 ; Gal. 2 : 20 ; 
4:19; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1 : 27. The same thought is implied in 
the characteristic Pauline phrase "in Christ, " or some one of its 
equivalents, which occurs scores of times and upon almost every page. 
See Gal. 2:4; Eph. 1 : 1-13 ; 2 : 6-10 ; Phil. 1:1, 26. Another 
expression of the same conception is found in Paul's representation that 
the church is Christ's "body," the agency through which His invisi- 
ble personality objectifies itself and makes itself effective in the life of 
the world. Read Rom. 12:4, 5 ; I Cor. 12 : 27 ; Eph. 1 : 23 ; 
4:12; 5 : 30 ; Col. 1 : 18-24. 

3. Read the following references and ascertain what John's favorite 
words for the expression of this thought are, and to what extent they 
are like those of Paul, I John 1:3; 2 : 4, 5, 24, 28 ; 3:6, 24 ; 
5 : 12, 20. 

4. This conception, and the one considered yesterday as well, may 
be traced to the teaching of Jesus Himself. See Matt. 16:27; 
28 : 20 ; John 14 : 23 ; 15:4; 16 : 28. 

" The Lord is risen indeed, 

He is here for your love, for your need — 
Not in the grave, nor the sky, 
But here where men live and die ; 
And true the word that was said : 
'Why seek ye the living among the dead ? * 

" Wherever are tears and sighs, 
Wherever are children's eyes, 
Where man calls man his brother, 
And loves as himself another, 
Christ lives ! The angels said : 
'Why seek ye the living among the dead ? ' ' 

Richard Watson Gilder, Easter. 



78 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI. — W$z Apostolic Conception of tfje KeattrmteU Christ 

Fourth Day : The Apostolic Conception of Jesus as 
Lord of All 

i. The general Lordship of Jesus seems to have been at once recog- 
nized as involved in His exaltation as Messiah to God's right hand. 
Examine Acts 2 : 36; 3 : 22, 23 ; 5:31; 10 : 36. The actual 
recognition of His Lordship as a personal matter constituted the 
" belief" in Him that was urged from the first as the beginning of the 
Christian life. This becomes most strikingly evident in two passages 
from Paul, which may be cited here in anticipation, Rom. 10:9 
(R.V.) and I Cor. 12:3. "Jesus Anathema" and "Jesus Lord" 
were probably the regular formulas for renouncing and confessing the 
Christian faith. It was the personal acceptance of Jesus as "Lord," 
that is, as the one whose right it is absolutely to control every life for 
its good, which constituted one a Christian. This emphasis of the 
Lordship of Jesus appears, not only in the discourses of Peter reported 
in Acts, but also in I Peter 3:15; 4:11. He is said to be Lord 
not only of men, but of whom besides ? I Peter 3 .-22. 

2. In Paul, Jesus appears also as Lord of all. Examine Rom. 
9 : 5 ; 10 : 12, and especially Eph. 1 : 9, 10, 20-23, where differ- 
ent classes of angels, who seem to be mentioned by the titles currently 
applied to them by some in the Asian churches, are said to be in sub- 
jection to Jesus Christ. Some seem to have been inclined to classify 
Jesus Christ among these angels, a classification against which Paul vig- 
orously protests in the letters to the Colossians and Ephesians. See 
Col. 2 : 8-10, 18, 19. Read also Phil. 2 : 9-11. 

3. In Hebrews there is this same insistence that He is Lord even of 
the angels. Read 1:4-8, 13, 14; also note one clause in 1:2. 
In John the representation of Jesus' Lordship is found, among other 
places, in Rev. 1 : 5 ; 5 : 8, 1 1-13. 

5. The form of address appropriate to the "Lord of all" is 
prayer, and this the apostles offered to Jesus. They had been accus- 
tomed to look to Him in emergencies during His earthly association 
with them, and their earliest prayers must have been a natural continu- 
ance of this practice, although His exaltation to God's right hand 
would naturally produce a new sense of the possibilities of prayer, and 
of the reverence with which He ought to be approached. For 
instances of such prayerful intercourse with the resurrected Christ see 
Acts 7 : 59; I Cor. 1:2; II Cor. 12 : 8, 9. 

79 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI. — W$t Apostolic Conception of X\z Eefimtrectefc C&rist 

Fifth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Rela- 
tion of the Resurrected Christ to God 

i. The recognition of Jesus as "Lord of all" involved an opinion 
regarding His relation to God. This relationship is nowhere definitely 
discussed in extant apostolic literature, and the thought of the apostles 
must consequently be gathered from incidental allusions and habits of 
speech. 

2. Notice first the way in which the names of God the Father and 
of Jesus Christ are associated. Examine each of the following pas- 
sages, and see whether they afford any material for answers to these 
questions : What have God the Father and Jesus Christ in common ? 
What do they do together ? Is either subordinate to the other ? What 
is the relation that exists between them ? Look up enough of the 
following references, taken from the different types of apostolic teach- 
ing, to see their general character : I Peter I : 1 , 2 ; II Peter 1 : 1 , 2 ; 
Rom. 1 : 7 ; I Cor. 1:3; 6 : 1 1 ; II Cor. 1:2; 13:14; Gal. 
1:3; Eph. 1:2; Heb. 13 : 20, 21 ; II John 3, and elsewhere. 

3. The Greek word translated "Lord," like the German word 
"Herr," is applicable, as a term of respect, to both men and God. 
This word is used of Jesus in the New Testament just as it is applied 
to Jehovah in the Old Testament, and just as the New Testament 
writers themselves apply it to Jehovah. Cf. Acts 9:1, 15, 17 with 
2 : 39, 47. Cf. I Cor. 2:854:4, 5 with 2:16. Examine Heb. 

I : 8-12 and ascertain to whom the language is applied there, and to 
whom applied in its original context, Ps. 45 : 6, 7 ; 102 : 25-27. 

4. Note now more especially the relationship expressed in many 
places, of which the following may serve as illustrations : Rom. 1 5 : 
6 ; I Cor. 1:9; II Cor. 11:31; Eph. 1 : 3 ; I Peter 1:3; and 
also Rom. 1:4, 9 ; Heb. 1:2; John 1:14; I John 5:5; 

II John 3. 



80 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XI. — W$t Stpostolic Conception of t&e RestttretteU Christ 

Sixth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Rela- 
tion of the Resurrected Christ to God (concluded) 

1 . The most distinct and fundamental expression of the relation of 
Jesus Christ to God the Father is found in Paul, Hebrews, and John, 
though in none is there any attempt at such metaphysical statements as 
were called for later, and as appear in the various creeds of the Church. 

2. God is represented by Paul as doing things in some immediate 
way through Jesus Christ, or, more profoundly still, as making some 
immediate and complete manifestation of Himself through the personality 
of Jesus Christ. What manifestation of God is said to be made in 
Rom. 8 : 38, 39? In a certain sense, God's love expresses itself 
through the life of the disciple, but Jesus Christ is one in whom the love 
of God reaches, not the few who can be touched by the limited influ- 
ence of one ordinary human being, but everybody ; not for a little while, 
and under certain circumstances, and in an imperfect degree, but always, 
and everywhere, and perfectly. Jesus Christ is capable of expressing 
all that the heart of the Father can feel. See also Eph. 3 : 18, 19. 

Paul thinks of God as having great reserves of kindness, far surpass- 
ing anything yet experienced by us, which will be drawn upon in the 
ages to come. Note in Eph. 2 : 7 through what personality God is 
planning to show this kindness. 

The strongest Pauline expression of intimate relationship between 
*' God the Father" and His Son, Jesus Christ, is found in the first 
clause of Col. 1:15. Read it carefully, with its context, which will be 
considered later. The Greek word translated "image" denotes, not 
an accidental similarity, but such a connection between the two as is 
implied by the word representation, or manifestation. The same ex- 
pression is found also in II Cor. 4 : 4, where it is coupled with a 
beautiful expression (4 :6), perhaps suggested by Paul's experience 
near Damascus. See also the strong expression in Col. 2:9. 

3. Language of equal strength appears in Hebrews. Read carefully 
Heb. 1 : 2, 3. What four expressions here describe the relationship? 

4. We have already seen that John regards the earthly life of Jesus 
as a manifestation of the Father (John 1 : 14, 18). This relationship 
he doubtless thought of as persisting in the case of the resurrected 
Christ. The idea of inseparableness, however, is the one that is the 
most conspicuous in the statement made in I John. Read carefully 1 : 
3 ; 2 : 23, 24 ; and 4:15 compared with 5:12. 

Si 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XI. — W&z &pstoltc Conception of tfje Eesurretteti C&rtet 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week, and state, as definitely as the facts 
enable you to do, where the apostles thought their invisible Friend to 
be ; what they conceived His position and influence in the universe to 
be ; and what they conceived His relation to God to be. In doing 
this put yourself, as far as you can, in the place of an apostle, living 
for the time being in an apostle's world of ideas and sensations, with 
an apostle's remembrance of past fellowship with Jesus, an apostle's 
present experience of His presence, and an apostle's inspiring outlook. 
Bear constantly in mind that all we find in the apostolic literature is the 
expression of a very real experience ; that these authors are real men, 
reporting their own fundamental convictions and experience. What 
statements in the teaching of Jesus would furnish ground for these apos- 
tolic conceptions ? 

" Lead me, yea lead me deeper into life, 

This suffering, human life wherein thou liv'st 
And breathest still, and hold'st thy way divine. 
'Tis here, O pitying Christ, where thee I seek, 
Here where the strife is fiercest ; where the sun 
Beats down upon the highway thronged with men, 
And in the raging mart. Oh ! deeper lead 
My soul into the living world of souls 
Where thou dost move. 

" But lead me, Man Divine, 
Where'er thou will'st, only that I may find 
At the long journey's end thy image there, 
And grow more like to it. For art not thou 
The human shadow of the infinite Love 
That made and fills the endless universe ! 
The very Word of Him, the unseen, unknown 
Eternal Good that rules the summer flower 
And all the worlds that people starry space ! " 

Richard Watson Gilder, Credo. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study XII.— C&e gpostolic Conception of t&e EesurretteH Christ 

( Continued ) 

First Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Resur- 
rected Christ as Saviour and Judge to Come 

i . The apostles had known Jesus to be a person with a strenuous 
sense of purpose, who lived a busy, though peaceful and unhasting 
life. ** We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is 
day " (John 9:4), was an utterance characteristic of His spirit. The 
apostles must have felt that this one, so purposeful and with such vast 
reserves of power for the execution of His purposes, would not now re- 
main inactive. The question for consideration is, What did they con- 
ceive Him to be doing, or getting ready to do ? 

2. His dominant interest, before His death, had been His peculiar 
conception of the Kingdom of God. The apostles soon discovered 
that this was still the uppermost thought in His mind after the resurrec- 
tion (Acts 1:3). Their first thought of Him, therefore, in His 
heavenly career was that He was one bent upon establishing the King- 
dom of God as He had conceived it. This involved doing two things, 
saving and judging. He would soon return to judge the world, and 
introduce the glorious and triumphant phase of His already developing 
Kingdom ; but, in the meantime, He was saving men from such con- 
duct as would necessarily be reprobated in a judgment conducted in 
accordance with His standards of conduct. Trace this great concep- 
tion in Peter's early preaching as recorded in Acts 2 : 19-21, 37-40 ; 
3 : 19-23 ; 4:12; 5:31; 10 : 42, 43. See also in Acts Paul's 
similar representation that Jesus is Saviour and future Judge, Acts 1 3 : 
38-41 ; 17 : 30, 31. Tracing the conception farther in the thought 
of Peter, see how it appears in I Peter 1:7, 13; 4:13, where 
" revelation of Jesus Christ " refers to His coming in judgment. 

3. Note also the constant recurrence of this conception in Paul, 
particularly in his two earliest letters, those to the Thessalonians, I 
Thess. 1 : 9, 10 ; 2 : 19, 20 ; 3 : 13 ; and 4:13-5:11, with its 
presentation of the comforting (4 : 13-18) and warning (5 : i-ll) 
aspects of the situation. When the Christians in Thessalonica were in 
great distress because of persecution, note the conception of Christ that 
Paul presented to them in II Thess. 1 : 3-10. This coming in imme- 
diate judgment he seemed to think might occur soon, although not until 
certain things, that had not occurred at the time of writing, should happen. 
These events are alluded to in the obscure (to us, but not to the Thessa- 
lonians, v. 5) second chapter of II Thess. Read II Thess. 2 : 1-12. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XII.— C&e &po6toitc Conception of X\t EestttrecteK C&riat 

{Continued} 

Second Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Res- 
urrected Christ as Saviour and Judge to Come 
(concluded) 

i . Trace still further in Paul this picture of the resurrected Christ 
as Saviour and Judge to come, that filled the hearts of the apostles with 
unfailing hope and zeal. It is an ever-present thought, liable to crop 
out incidentally in the beginnings and ends of letters, as I Cor. 1:7, 
8 ; 16 : 22 (margin). It appears as a practical motive for every-day 
righteousness, II Cor. 5:9, 10 ; and for honesty in the heart, Rom. 
2:16. See also Rom. 13 : 11 -13 ; Phil. 1 : 6-10. The most in- 
spiring hopes of Paul's great soul centered in this event and its conse- 
quences, Phil. 3 : 13, 14, 20, 21 ; Col. 3 : 1-4; Titus 2 : 1 1-1 3. 

The same conception appears in Heb. 9 : 28 ; and in I John 
2 : 28 ; 3:2; Rev. 1:7; and elsewhere. 

2. It remains to see whether any more specific answer can be given 
to the question, What did the Apostles consider that Jesus, the Saviour 
and Judge to come, was doing in order to save men ? How was He 
spending His time in the interval before the coming ? Within ten 
days after His disappearance He gave His apostles evidence that His 
sympathetic eye was upon them in their new career. Compare Acts 
1:4,5 with 2:33. This apostolic sense of co-operating with an 
all-powerful, though invisible, personality is constantly evident in the 
book of Acts ; also in the striking apostolic picture presented by the 
writer of Mark 16 : 19, 20. More specifically, He is represented as 
spending His time in developing the characters of His disciples. Per- 
sonal association with His disciples engages His attention. Read the 
following statements, asking in the case of each, what output of per- 
sonal energy on the part of Jesus, Paul has in mind : Phil. I : 6 ; 4 : 
13 ; II Cor. 12 : 8, 9; Gal. 2 : 20 ; perhaps also Eph. 2 : 10. 

3. The reception of, and association with, the spirits of dead believers 
is also represented as constituting a part of the occupation of Jesus. 
What actually happened when Jesus "received Stephen's spirit " 
(Acts 7 : 59) ? See also Paul's vivid sense of this in II Cor. 5:8; 
Phil. 1 : 23 ; I Thess. 4:17. 

4. Jesus is also represented as superintending the general extension 
of His Kingdom into new territory on the large scale of the world, 
Acts 16 : 6-10, especially v. 7. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

aMI I I I I— III M II— IIIM IHIII ■■■IHMIMIM IIMII ■ ■ III Willi II M llll I III !■!! ■■!! 111! II II I I III HIIHIIIITT 

Study XII. — 1&\t Apostolic Conception of t&e Kesttrroteii Cfjrist 

( Continued) 

Third Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Res- 
urrected Christ as Priestly Intercessor 

i . In endeavoring to ascertain the apostolic conception of the occu- 
pation of the resurrected Christ there is one form of activity to be 
noted that is mentioned in Paul, Hebrews, and John. Postponing the 
consideration of John for a little, read the following passages, and state 
what it is : Rom. 8 : 34 ; Heb. 7:25. Make the best answer you 
can to the following questions : What is it to intercede, or to act as 
advocate ? For whom do these passages represent Him to be inter- 
ceding ? With whom does He intercede ? Why does He need to 
intercede ? 

Doubtless we should understand the situation more readily, if we 
were trained in the priestly conception with which the Jews were so 
familiar. It runs through much of the letter to the Hebrews. As the 
Jewish high-priest went into the small inner room separated by a 
heavy curtain from the rest of the temple, to appear before God in 
behalf of his people, so Jesus is said in Hebrews to have passed into the 
heavens as a great High-Priest. Read especially 4:14; 5:10; 6: 
1 8-20. The ideal high-priest is one who sees and loves both men 
and God. He realizes the weakness, the sin and shame of men, and 
sympathizes with them. He recognizes also the holiness and love of 
God. He is one by whom the confessed sin of penitent men is 
brought up before the forgiving love of God. The resurrected Christ 
then is represented as a Priest in whom penitent men and God come 
together. Is this because God needs some one to persuade Him to be 
kind to penitent sinners ? What is the implication contained in Heb. 
5 : 4-6 and 1 : 1-3 on this point ? Notice the eternal character of the 
relationship as described in 7 : 25. 

2. Turn now to I John 2:1. Note, in the margin, that the word 
here translated " Advocate " is the one translated " Comforter" in 
John 14 : 16. The purpose of the advocacy of intercession is made 
more evident here than in Hebrews. Note the specific case here men- 
tioned that would call for advocacy. 

John evidently does not consider this "advocacy" as necessary to 
mollify God, for he here calls God a " Father," and in 4 : 7-10 he 
makes it evident that the love of God is the original and fundamental 
fact in his thought, back of, and energizing, all that Christ does. 

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This also is the view of Paul, Rom. 5:8; 8 : 38, 39 ; and of the 
author of Hebrews, 1 : 1-3. Christ does not have to seek God out, 
and persuade Him to lay aside any reluctance to come forward and 
deal mercifully with men. He is, rather, the one in whom God has 
come far out to find men. When Christ represents us before God, 
He is doing what the Father longs to have done. It is an advocacy 
before a friendly court. 

3. We need steadily to emphasize in our thought the present reality 
that lies back of these words of the apostle. They are not mere vac- 
uous figures of speech. Jesus is actually spending time on us. There 
is a real output of the personal energy of Jesus being made for you while 
you read these words. 

Paul felt daily interest in every member of his churches. As his 
hands mechanically wove the tent cloth, his thoughts were far away in 
Antioch, or Thessalonica, or Ephesus. "There is that," he said, 
f< which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. Who 
is weak and I am not weak (in sympathy with him) ? Who is made 
to stumble (into sin), and I burn not (in sympathetic imagination 
scorched by the same fiery temptation that burned him) ?" (II Cor. 
11 : 28, 29.) We may say that, in some way of which Paul's ex- 
perience was but a faint and troubled suggestion, the great God-filled 
personality of the resurrected Christ is pressed upon daily by the weak- 
ness, perils, and sins of those in many lands who look to Him as Sav- 
iour and Friend. The first words of His endless intercession were 
spoken on the earth, and have come down to us, in order that we may 
form from them a conception of what is now being offered for us. 
Turn for a moment to John 17 : 20-24. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study XII.— Cjje Apostolic Conception of tfce KedttrorteU Cfcrist 

( Continued) 

Fourth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Res- 
urrected Christ as Sustainer of the Universe 

i . There appears in the apostolic literature a somewhat startling con- 
ception, different from anything we have heretofore considered. The 
resurrected Christ has been seen to be the Supreme Person, under God 
the Father, in the moral universe ; but He now appears as sustaining 
relations of fundamental importance to the physical universe. Read care- 
fully the last clause of Col. 1:17, and note the marginal rendering of 
«' consist." The first clause of the verse describes an activity not ex- 
ercised in the post-resurrection period of His existence, and will be 
considered next week. The last clause seems to say that it is due to 
the personality of the resurrected Christ that the physical universe 
remains in order, that particles of matter cohere, that the force of 
gravity remains steady, that the planets are kept in their orbits, the 
seasons in their succession, and the rivers running to the sea. This 
new thought is not so remote, as it at first seems, from the conception 
of Christ as supreme in the moral universe. His supremacy in the 
moral universe consists in the fact that He is the manifestation of God, 
and it is not unnatural to expect that He should also be the manifesta- 
tion of God in His relation to the physical universe. 

Notice also the statement in the end of Col. 1:16 that all things 
have been created " unto," or " for," Him. Think of the world in 
its geological ages as being prepared for the use of Jesus Christ and His 
Kingdom. Compare with this the statement of Jesus, that the meek 
shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). Read also Eph. 1 : 10. 

This means more than simply to get a title to the earth as so much 
real estate. In the broadening of our ideas under the influence of 
scientific discovery, we see that it is the earth with all its unfolding re- 
sources that is to become the heritage of those who accept the concep- 
tion of civilization advocated by Jesus. All electrical inventions, all 
the results of industrial enterprises, all worthy creations in art and 
literature, find a place in the great plan of God that sums up all things 
in Christ. All infinite designs find their ultimate end in the use Christ 
will make of them in blessing the humanity He redeems. 

2. Turn now to Hebrews and note the first half of 1 : 3 and its 
context. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 
Study XII.— C^e ^postoitc Conception o! t\z Keattrrectett C&rist 

( Continued) 

Fifth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Sig- 
nificance of the Resurrection of Jesus 

i . We have discovered, in some measure at least, the apostolic con- 
ception of the resurrected Christ. We have seen what sort of per- 
son it was before whom the apostles worshipped, and from whom they 
drew their inspiration. We need now, in conclusion, to ask definitely 
what significance they saw in the fact of the resurrection and exaltation 
of Jesus. 

2. The particular point of significance naturally first recognized 
by the apostles seems to have been that found in all the early dis- 
courses recorded in Acts. See Acts 2:23, 24; 3:15; 4:10; 
5:30; 10:40; 13:29,30; 17:31. This appears also in 
I Peter 1:21; and in Paul, Eph. 1 : 19, 20. The resurrection was 
God's act. Jesus had stood unwaveringly for a certain ideal of Mes- 
siahship ; for a certain conception of the Kingdom of God and of 
righteousness ; and ultimately for an unmistakable emphasis of Himself 
as Messiah. In consequence of His steadfast adherence to these ideals 
He was put to death. What inference regarding these ideals do the 
apostles draw from the fact of the resurrection ? See Rom. 1:4m 
this connection. 

3. Closely related to the above is the use the apostles constantly 
made of the resurrection in their argument for the Messiahship of Jesus 
based on the Hebrew Scriptures. Under the instruction of Jesus, 
given after His resurrection, they made a discovery of something in the 
exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures that none of the rabbis had found out. 
Read Luke 24 : 25-27, 45-47. The result of this instruction is seen 
in the use they proceeded at once to make of the Scriptures in the pre- 
sentation of their case. See Acts 2 : 24-32. It is seen in its simplest 
form in the report of Paul's argument made in the Thessalonian syna- 
gogue. (Acts 17 : 2, 3.) 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 
Study XII.— Clje &pogtolic Conception of tfje Ewttrrertefc Cforiet 

( Continued) 

Sixth Day : The Apostolic Conception of the Signif- 
icance of the Resurrection of Jesus (concluded) 

i. The resurrection of Jesus was not only God's indorsement of 
Him and His ideas, and His identification as the Messiah of prophecy, 
but it was also a source of profound encouragement to men. Read 
Rom. 4:25. What is the connection here alluded to by Paul be- 
tween the resurrection of Jesus and God's declaration of the penitent 
believer's righteousness ? Consider the friendly and encouraging atti- 
tude that Jesus had taken toward penitent publicans and sinners during 
His lifetime, for instance, toward the woman mentioned in Luke 7 : 
36-50. What significance, according to Paul's thought, would the 
resurrection of Jesus have for her, when she first learned of it ? 

2. It is also naturally regarded by the apostles as a demonstration of 
the possibility of life after death. Read I Cor. 15 : 12-18, noting 
that the expression, " the resurrection of the dead," would be more 
accurately translated, a "resurrection of dead persons." Read also 
II Tim. 1 : 9, 10. 

3. The resurrection of Jesus, regarded as a pledge of the believer's 
resurrection, will be considered in Part IV, but here attention may 
be given to Peter's interesting allusion to the subject in I Pet. 1 : 
3-5. Peter's thought about the resurrection must have been largely 
influenced by his own experience in connection with it. Remember 
the remorse and despair occasioned by his denial of his Lord ( Mark 
14 : 72), and consider whether there is any hint here in I Pet. 
1 : 3-5 of the effect produced upon him by the resurrection. Re- 
member also the distrust of himself, occasioned by his failure to live up 
to his confident protestation (Mark 14 : 27-31), and consider whether 
it is alluded to in v. 5. Why is it called a "living hope," and how 
did the resurrection of Jesus Christ serve to produce it? 

" In that tomb, the gloomiest earth had known, because the grave 
of the Holiest known to earth, a torch had been lighted that made 
sable death luminous, and forced from him his dread secret, translating 
it into Resurrection and Life. And so there was set under the weak 
but wishful feet of hope, no instinct of the human heart, or inference 
of the human reason, but the strong rock of historical yet eternal fact — 
the Person of the risen Christ." 

Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ. 
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Studies in the Teaching of jfesus and His Apostles 
Study XII.— ®j)e Apostolic Conception of tjje Eesttrtectcli Cljrifit 

( Concluded) 
Seventh Day : Summary of the Last Two Weeks 

Review the work of the past week, and then write out a few state- 
ments that shall express the conclusions you have reached as a result of 
the last two weeks of study. These conclusions will perhaps be best 
stated in reply to the following questions : In how large a sphere do the 
apostles regard the resurrected Christ to be working ? What power has 
He ? What is His relation to God ? To men ? What is His domi- 
nant aim, and what is He doing to accomplish it ? In what respects 
is the hopefulness of humanity increased by the resurrection of Jesus ? 

There is a remarkable statement made by Paul in I Cor. 1 5 : 24- 
28. It represents Jesus as the great Champion of Humanity, contend- 
ing with all Humanity's foes, and gaining the victory over even the 
strongest and the deadliest. The vision of Paul, the seer, penetrates 
to a point where this great Defender of Humanity shall have redeemed 
it from the power of all its enemies and brought it back to the Father. 
Then, when the Father has His own again and the Redeemer's work 
is done, the Redeemer and those whom He has redeemed will wait 
before the Father for some new task worthy of themselves and of the 
inexhaustible resources of God. But beyond this far point no prophet's 
earthly vision has penetrated. 



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Study XIII. — STIje gpoetoltc Conception of X\z (Eternal C&rist 

First Day : The Apostle Peter's Conception of Christ 
as Pre-existent 

i. We saw in the last study that the apostles thought of their Lord 
as living a life that would never end. He was alive for evermore. 
There is also evidence, to which we now turn, that they thought of 
Him as having existed before He appeared on the earth as Jesus, Son 
of Nazarene Mary. When, or by what process of thought, they 
reached this conception may more properly be considered after the 
conception itself has been examined. 

2. In the early apostolic discourses recorded in Acts there are no 
explicit allusions to the pre-existence. As has been seen, they are 
largely concerned with the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus, 
and the salvation that is to be had through penitent faith in Him. The 
apostles, at first, were so absorbed in the thought of a glorious salvation 
to come that their natural attitude was facing the future, rather than 
looking into the remote past. 

3. In I Peter there are possible allusions to the pre-existence of the 
Christ. It is necessary to discriminate between allusions to His pre- 
existence and to God's foreknowledge of His earthly existence. The 
first reference is I Pet. 1 : 11. Read the context, 1 : 3-12. Does 
the expression " Spirit of Christ," mean the Holy Spirit, or does it 
designate the personality of Christ ? If the latter, what thought does 
it show to have been in the mind of Christ during his pre-existence ? 
Consider also 1 : 20, reading its context, 1 : 13-25. Does the word 
" manifested " imply a previous existence ? 

4. If you find in these references indications that Peter conceived of 
Jesus as having existed before His appearance on the earth, try to 
imagine how such an idea must have affected his thought of the rela- 
tionship that he had sustained to Jesus during His earthly career. Did 
it give any new meaning to the earthly life of Jesus ? 



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Study XIII.— &\>t &postoIte Conception of t&e (Sternal C&riat 

Second Day : The Apostle Paul's Conception of the 
Pre-existent Christ 

1. The authenticity of four of Paul's epistles has been practically- 
unquestioned in all the history of criticism. These four are Romans, 
I Corinthians, II Corinthians, and Galatians. We are first to examine 
these and see whether they contain allusions to the pre-existence of 
Jesus. Paul's epistles were generally written to meet special emergen- 
cies. They, therefore, emphasize such truths as are serviceable in 
meeting the given emergency, and the scant allusion to, or complete 
omission of, any truth not connected with the emergency does not 
warrant one in supposing that the author does not hold that truth. 

2. Read Rom. 8 : 3 and its context, and consider whether any 
thought of pre-existence is implied in the word " sending." The word 
itself certainly does not necessarily indicate it, as is evident from John 
1:6. It is fair to consider, however, whether the whole expression, 
«« sending Him in the likeness of sinful flesh, "suggests the idea that He 
had previously existed in some other likeness than that of sinful flesh. 
The same question arises in connection with Gal. 4 : 4 and its con- 
text. Can the expression "sent forth" be fairly taken to imply that 
He was sent forth from some place of previous existence ? These ex- 
pressions in Galatians and Romans need to be interpreted in the light 
of more explicit statements found in the Corinthian letters. 

3. Examine next the two letters to the Corinthians for traces of 
this view. Read I Cor. 8 : 6 and its context. What is meant by 
"all things" being "through" the Lord Jesus Christ, especially in 
connection with the statement that all things are " from " God the 
Father ? Does this read like a common current saying ? If so, it re- 
flects not simply Paul's own view, but the view current among the 
Christians of the time. In the Authorized Version, I Cor. 15:47 was 
a sentence in point here. But many manuscripts omit the words " the 
Lord," in which case the reference may be to the heavenly type of man 
rather than to Jesus. II Cor. 8 : 9 seems an unmistakable assertion of 
Jesus' pre-existence, and its "ye know" assumes that the pre-exist- 
ence of Jesus is a truth commonly accepted among the Christians at 
this early date. In what did His richness and poverty consist ? What 
light does this passage throw on the aims and motives that prevailed in 
the life of the pre-existent Christ ? 

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Study XIII.— W$t Apostolic Conception of X\z eternal e&rist 

Third Day : The Apostle Paul's Conception of the 
Pre-existent Christ (continued) 

i . Another casual, though very explicit and beautiful, allusion to the 
pre-existence of Jesus is found in a letter written by Paul from a Roman 
prison to the Christians in Philippi. Read at least as much of the con- 
text as Phil, i : 27-2 : II, in order to see the rare beauty of the pas- 
sage in its setting. Paul portrays here in strong, bold outline the 
eternal career of Jesus, with the universe as a background. The 
career is pictured in three stages. Jesus appears first upon the high 
plateau of His pre-existence, then in the deep valley of His humilia- 
tion, and finally again on high, carrying with Him the adoration of the 
universe. Read vv. 6-1 1 with this thought in mind, and noting also 
the four or five steps down into the depths of His voluntary humilia- 
tion. Be sure to read this passage in the Revised Version. What 
does the passage state or imply ( 1 ) regarding the kind of existence 
possessed by Christ Jesus before His appearance on earth ; (2) re- 
garding His relation to God ; (3) regarding His dominant aim and 
motive, that is, What was the "mind " of Christ Jesus that Paul de- 
sired to see reproduced in the Christians of Philippi ? 

" He has come ! the Christ of God 
Left for us his glad abode ; 
Stooping from his throne of bliss, 
To this darksome wilderness. 
He has come ! the Prince of peace j 
Come to bid our sorrows cease j 
Come to scatter with his light 
All the shadows of our night. 

" He the mighty King has come ! 
Making this poor earth his home j 
Come to bear our sin's sad load ; 
Son of David, Son of God ! 
He has come, whose name of grace 
Speaks deliverance to our race 5 
Left for us his glad abode ; 
Son of Mary, Son of God !" 

Horatius Bonar. 



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Study XIII.— W&z &poatoltc Conception of t&e Eternal Cfcrtat 

Fourth Day : The Apostle Paul's Conception of the 
Pre-existent Christ (concluded) 

i . A still more explicit, though less beautiful, statement regarding 
the pre-existence of Jesus is found in the letter to the Colossians. 
There had come to Colosse certain teachers, professedly Chris- 
tian, but fatally out of accord with the fundamental truths of the 
gospel. They apparently believed in gradations of angels, called 
"thrones," "dominions," "principalities," "powers," etc., that 
were intermediate between the absolute God and created matter, and 
by some one of whom they believed the defiling contact with matter 
involved in creation to have, been experienced. Somewhere in this 
series, as a subordinate personality, they proposed to place Jesus 
Christ. Against this view, as well as against some other views held 
by them, Paul entered vigorous protest. Read, for instance, I : 15- 
20 ; 2 : 8-10, 18, 19. Here for the first time Paul had occasion to 
speak directly of the pre-existence of Jesus, and he does so with great 
force in 1 : 15-17. Read it carefully. The expression, "first-born 
of all creation," has been much discussed. It is held by some to mean 
that Christ was the first created being. The grammatical construction 
does not necessitate this interpretation, and the interpretation, " first- 
born over all creation," is grammatically justifiable and seems neces- 
sitated by the context in vv. 16, 17. The word "first-born" in 
this latter interpretation indicates rank, as it does when used of David 
in Ps. 89 : 20, 27, and asserts nothing regarding His classification 
among created beings. In vv. 1 6, 1 7 Paul explicitly puts Him out- 
side the class of created existence. 

2. This passage does not bring out the moral characteristics of the 
pre-existent Christ so clearly as does the passage in Philippians, but it 
throws new light upon the character of His activity. What does it 
represent Him to have been doing in the ages before His appearance 
upon the earth ? What was His relation to God ? 



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Study XIII.— €&e Apostolic Conception of X\z eternal Christ 

Fifth Day : The Conception of the Pre-existent 
Christ in Hebrews 

1. Notice the clause in Heb. 1:1-3 that describes the activity of 
the pre-existent Christ. Observe also that in 1 : 10-13 words, used 
in their original context to describe the creative activity of Jehovah, are 
here applied to the " Son " Jesus Christ. The Church had evidently 
come to think of Jesus Christ as an eternal manifestation of the Father. 
In His earthly life, death, and resurrection it had been perfectly clear 
that He presented Himself as a manifestation of the Father. As soon, 
therefore, as the apostles came to regard Him as having existed before 
His earthly life, they naturally thought of Him as having been always 
the one through whom God manifested Himself. In His earthly life 
He had evidently been manifesting God as a Redeemer. God had 
worked through Him to redeem men. The conviction was natural 
that, when God created the worlds, He did it also through the same 
agency, namely, through the personality of His Son. 

2. The author of Hebrews seems also to represent the pre-existent 
Christ as having had connection with God's people during the centuries 
of their history that passed before He appeared upon the earth. In his 
argument for the superiority of Christ to Moses, 3:1-6, note the two 
sentences, one of which attributes the founding of the Jewish nation, 
or " house/' to Jehovah, and the other of which attributes it to 
Christ. 

" Let us remember the pregnant import of this passage [Col. 1: 
15-17], in which the Son is revealed to us as Cause, Head, and 
Goal of the created Universe. How much it has to say to us ! For 
one thing, it binds both ' worlds,' the seen and the unseen, the ma- 
terial and spiritual, into one, under one Head. And this is a pre- 
cious gain when our hearts fail us on the border-line between the two. 
For another thing, it sanctifies ' Nature ' to us, and makes its im- 
measurable heights and depths at once safe and radiant with the 
Name of Jesus Christ. It connects the remotest aeon of the past with 
Him. It connects the remotest star detected by the photographic 
plate with Him. It bids us, when we feel lost in the eternity of 
space and time, fall back upon the Centre of both ; for that Centre is 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. In Him they hold together. 
He knows all about them ; the mystery of space, the mystery of time, 

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great to us, are no mysteries to Him. Looking on Him, and then on 
the beautiful but awful sky of stars, we can say with the poet, 

' Spirit, nearing yon dark portal at the limit of thy human state, 
Fear not thou the hidden purpose of that Power which alone is great, 
Nor the myriad world, His shadow, nor the silent Opener of the Gate.' 

With another, whose harp rung still truer to the eternal things, we can 
rejoice to think that 

* All things are under One. One Spirit, His 
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows, 
Rules universal Nature.' 

With His Name the traveller can rejoice in the glories of mountain, 
forest, and flood, worshipping not nature but Christ its Cause and 
End ; Artificer of the landscape, while He is Saviour of the soul. 
With that same dear Name the explorer of physical secrets can conse- 
crate his laboratory, remembering that Christ is the ultimate law of 
compound and cohesion, while He is the Saviour of the soul. ' ' 

H. C. G. Moule, Colossian Studies. 



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Study XIII.— (E&e &postoitc Conception of tfce eternal Christ 

Sixth Day: The Apostle John's Conception of the 
Pre-existent Christ 

1. The apostle John's clearest statements on this subject are found in 
the prologue to his Gospel. In this prologue there appears one called 
"The Word," or "Logos." Read carefully I : I -1 8 and see 
whether John regarded "The Word" as the pre-existent Christ. 
This prologue has many interesting features, but the points upon which 
to concentrate attention in this discussion are these : What does it rep- 
resent to have been the relation of the pre-existent Christ to God ? 
What did He do ? What were His dominant aims and motives ? 
Note how suggestive the opening sentences here are of the opening 
sentences in Genesis, and that the work of creation attributed in 
Genesis to God is here, as in Paul and Hebrews, attributed to the 
pre-existent Christ. Consider whether the presentation made in this 
prologue warrants the statement that John considered the personality 
known in human history as Jesus Christ to be, in the various stages 
of its existence, an eternal manifestation of God the Father. Is there 
ground for supposing that he thought of the Father as having eternally 
expressed Himself through the Son ? 

2. This is not the place for an extended discussion of the origin of 
the expression "The Word," or " The Logos." It is used here as 
if it were a common term among those for whom this Gospel was pre- 
pared. In the Old Testament the expression, " The word of the 
Lord," frequently describes the message of Jehovah to His prophets. 
In Is. 55 : ii there is a poetic personification of the Word, and per- 
haps a more highly developed personification in the apocryphal book, 
the Wisdom of Solomon. In the Talmud there is a tendency to regard 
the " Memra Jahveh," or " Word of Jehovah," as a real personality. 
Entirely separate from Hebrew usage is the occurrence of the expres- 
sion "The Logos" in Greek philosophy. These two streams of 
thought, the Hebrew and the Greek, came together in the thought and 
literature of the Alexandrian Jews of the first century, and by one of 
them, the learned Philo, the term was freely used. There is some 
indication that this Alexandrian thought was influential in Asia Minor. 
If so, the expression may have been seized upon by the Christians as 
an appropriate designation for the pre-existent Christ, particularly be- 
cause of its Old Testament association. " Our Lord Jesus Christ is 
the true Logos," they would say. The expression occurs also in 
I John i : i , and in Rev. 19 : 13. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

— ■ ■ ill ill ii ill i nwm iiiMnirwTiTi —— ■— ^—— — — — ■ — — ^— — ^— 

Study XIII.— Cfje Apostolic Conception of t&e (Eternal Cfctifit 

Seventh Day: Summary of the Week 

i. Gather up as usual the main results of the week's study. What is 
the evidence that the apostles thought of the personality, called in his- 
tory Jesus Christ, as having existed before appearing upon the earth ? 
What had been His relation to God, and to the universe ? What had 
been His personal character ? 

2. It has been noticeable that the apostles do not discuss the pro- 
cess by which the pre-existent Christ entered humanity. The Johan- 
nine representation is simply that He *' became flesh,' ' and the Pauline 
statement of this transition, represents Him as " emptying Himself," 
" taking the form of a servant." Neither is there any attempt made 
to discuss metaphysically the relationship between the Father and the 
pre-existent Christ. This question, and others like it, are legitimate 
and have been much discussed in the history of Christian thought, but 
there is need of careful discrimination between the statements of the 
apostles themselves and the conclusions that are more or less legitimately 
drawn from their statements. 

3. It would be interesting to try to trace the intellectual and spirit- 
ual processes by which the apostles, and apparently the Church in 
general, reached this exalted conception of the pre-existent Christ. 
The conception of the resurrected Christ as Lord of all must have been 
felt almost to necessitate a belief in His pre-existence. To suppose 
that a man who had been in existence but a generation should be 
supreme in the universe may have seemed to them an untenable position. 
Also, the thought of Him as one who was a perfect manifestation of 
God must have been felt to involve something eternal in the manifest- 
ing personality. Possibly in some circles pre-existence was a part of 
the Jewish Messianic conception. The most definite source of the 
idea seems to have been certain statements of Jesus Himself, preserved 
for us in the Gospel of John. Perhaps fully as influential as these few 
utterances was Jesus' general conception of Himself, as the apostles 
after mature reflection under the guidance of the Holy Spirit came to 
understand it. 

4. The value of a personal relationship consists in the character of 
the persons related. As one comes into sympathy with the apostolic 
conception of the personality of Jesus, he becomes conscious of the in- 
finite significance of a daily life of deepening acquaintance with Him. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — f£f)e Apostolic Conception of t&e ^tffntficance of 
X\t £)eatlj of testis 

First Day : The Early Conception Presented in 

Acts 

i. The consideration of the apostolic conception of the death of 
Jesus has been postponed until this time, because it seems probable that 
the apostles were not in a position to realize the significance of the death 
until they realized who it was that died. It is not to be supposed, of 
course, that they gave no thought to the significance of His death until 
they had attained the high conception of His personality which has been 
revealed in the last few studies. In the nature of the case so startling 
a phenomenon as the death of the Messiah must have necessitated 
thought as soon as it occurred, and the increasing realization of its sig- 
nificance must have kept pace with their deepening sense of the exalted 
character of the Messiah. 

2. The discourses contained in the Acts present the death of Jesus 
in two aspects : as a proof of the wickedness of His countrymen, and 
as a fulfilment of prophecy. Read 2 : 23 ; 3:13, 14, 18 ; 8 : 32- 
35 ; 13 : 27-29; 17 : 2, 3. 

The death of the Messianic claimant had seemed to His disciples to 
be the absolute defeat of their expectations. But after His resurrection 
He went through the Hebrew Scriptures with them, and showed them 
a new discovery in exegesis. To their glad surprise they learned, what 
the rabbis seemed never to have noticed, that the death of the Messiah 
was predicted by the prophets. Read Luke 24 : 25-27, 44-46. The 
exhilaration of spirit occasioned by this discovery seems to have been so 
great that there was no disposition to raise the reflective query, Why 
did God plan to have the Messiah die ? 

3. Possibly Paul's first reported address is meant by the author of 
Acts to exhibit an allusion to the thought, so characteristic of the Paul- 
ine letters, of connection between the death of Jesus and the forgive- 
ness of sin. Consider whether 13 : 38 warrants this supposition. Acts 
20 : 28 gives a clear hint of the Pauline conception of the significance 
of the death ; but these words were spoken many years after the cruci- 
fixion and after the letters to the Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians, 
and Romans were written. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — W$z Stpostolic Conception of t&e H>tgnifftance of 
tlje £>eat|) of 3Tc£fufi; 

Second Day : The Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus in I Peter 

1. In I Peter there are certain statements regarding the significance 
of the death of Jesus that mark an advance on the views held by Peter, 
according to the Acts, at an earlier period. It is noticeable that the 
two most complete statements in the epistle are incidental, being intro- 
duced to illustrate and enforce the necessity on the part of Christians of 
enduring undeserved suffering patiently. It is assumed by Peter in this 
appeal to the example of Jesus that his view of the significance of Jesus' 
death is the one generally current among his readers. In order to note 
this preliminary point, read rapidly 2 : 18-25 an< ^ 3 : 8-18. 

2. Taking the passages up in detail, note first in 1 : 10, 1 1 the con- 
tinuance of the view characteristic of the Petrine discourses recorded in 
Acts. 

Read next 1 : 17, 18, and note in its context, vv. 13-16, the practical 
purposes of the allusion to Jesus' death. The figure here is that of 
" redemption," a figure full of meaning in the earlier life and literature 
of the Jews, as well as in the civilization of the first century. What 
does " redeem " mean in this statement ? " Redeemed " from what ? 
" Redeemed " by what or whom ? The allusion to the blood of the 
" lamb without blemish and without spot" indicates that the author 
has in mind the passover offering. Read Exodus 12:5, and note in 
vv. 21-28 the original significance of the passover offering. Probably 
Peter remembered Jesus' own allusion to His death under the figure of 
the passover lamb. See Mark 14 : 23-25 ; and Study VII, Fourth 
Day. Does the statement of Peter enable you to tell how the death of 
Jesus serves to ' ' redeem ' ' ? 

3. Read next 2 : 24, 25, noting that Peter evidently has Is. 53 : 5- 
7 in mind. Notice the marginal reading (R.V.), " carried up our 
sins in His own body to the tree." What thought do you suppose to 
have been in Peter's mind when he used these words ? Is it at all like 
that presented in the figure used by Paul in the last clause of Col. 
2 : 14? What advantage does Peter conceive himself to have experi- 
enced in the death of Jesus ? Does he explain how the death of Jesus 
secured this advantage ? What light does 3:18 throw upon these points ? 

Notice also the allusion to purification through the blood of Jesus 
in 1 : 2. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — 1&\t &postolic Conception of X\t Significance of 
t&e E)eatl) of Jfeaufli 

Third Day : Paul's Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus 

i . It is not feasible to attempt an exhaustive examination of all the 
Pauline allusions to the death of Jesus, but those that are most clear 
and typical may be segregated for consideration. The great promi- 
nence of the subject in the Pauline literature, and the meagre discussion 
of it in the book of Acts, tempt one to imagine that Paul was the first 
to see in the death of Jesus something more than the mere fulfilment 
of Messianic prophecy, and to ask what purpose it served in the econ- 
omy of God. Many of the Pauline allusions to the death of Jesus, 
however, seem to assume that certain of his views regarding it were 
already current in the Church ; and if, in I Cor. 15:3, " received " 
means received from Christian teachers, as the following verses seem 
to indicate, then we have explicit testimony to the fact that the death 
of Jesus had been connected in Christian thought with the sin of men, 
before the conversion of Paul, and so, of course, long before the date 
of his earliest extant letters. 

2. The only allusion to the significance of the death of Jesus that 
occurs in either of the Thessalonian letters is in I Thess. 5:9, 10. 
Consider what the expression " died for us," or "with reference to 
us," meant to Paul. 

3. In the letter to the Galatians which, if the South Galatian theory 
regarding its readers be accepted, was written either just before or soon 
after those to the Thessalonians, several strong and picturesque ex- 
pressions occur. The intense spirit, which characterizes the entire 
letter, is particularly evident in its allusions to the death of Jesus. 

Notice the striking clause in the introduction, 1 : 4. Does this 
clause refer particularly to the death of Jesus, or to His entire earthly 
career ? Notice the recurrence of the clause at the end of 2 : 20. 
Does the context, vv. 20, 21, indicate that the phrase is particularly 
descriptive of the death ? If so, what does Paul mean when he says 
that Jesus Christ in death " gave himself in behalf of me," or " with 
reference to our sins" (1:4)? In other words, What advantage do 
these words represent Paul to have experienced from the death of Jesus ? 

These questions are more easily asked than answered. One pur- 
pose served by them is to make it evident that various answers may be 
given, and that these answers constitute the so-called " theories of the 



Studies in the Teaching of jfesus and His Apostles 



atonement. " A part of the difficulty seems to be that one does not 
find himself competent to reproduce Paul's point of view. He does 
not know with what intellectual and spiritual presuppositions Paul 
looked at the subject. Two things are perfectly clear, and they are 
that Paul regarded the death of Jesus as an expression of the love of 
Jesus (2 : 20) and the grace of God (2 : 21) ; and that Paul felt it to 
be because of the death of Jesus that he had entered into a new life of 
great blessing. 

With these thoughts in view read the other impressive passage, 
3:13, 14, noting that Paul's phraseology here is determined by that 
of the quotation. What advantage is here (v. 14) represented as 
coming to the believer through the death of Jesus? Does Paul here 
explain how the death of Jesus serves to confer this advantage? 

" He, like no other one that ever lived on earth, has borne the sins 
of the world. But Christ's sin-bearing was not a separate thing, hav- 
ing its significance wholly within itself. It was not a service of his own 
offered to God who had no share in it. Here, as everywhere, God 
was the original and Christ the Word. Christ's sin-bearing was the 
expression of God's. As God's hatred of sin and God's Saviour- 
heart found expression in Christ, so in Christ did the fact of his eternal 
sin-bearing find announcement and illustration. The sufferings of 
Christ were the true representative symbol and proclamation of what 
goes on perpetually in God. From them God wishes the world to 
learn that sin is put away only through the redemptive suffering of 
holy love, which he himself is gladly bearing, and which Christ, his 
representative and expression, endured before the eyes of men." 

*« In seeking to save us Christ offered and submitted himself to 
endure the closest contact with the moral evil that he abhorred ; to 
feel all the grossness, selfishness, blindness, ingratitude, violence, of the 
sinful hearts of men ; to live, love and labor and see no adequate result 
or return ; to be regarded with indifference, suspicion, contempt or 
abhorrence by those whom he was living for ; to be despised, rejected 
and murdered by those over whom he yearned in undying affection ; 
to suffer the shame of a criminal's position and the agony of a disgrace- 
ful death ; to die with scarcely a soul firmly believing in him, and so to 
seem utterly defeated in his effort to reach the heart of mankind. ' ' 

Clarke, An Outline of Christian Theology. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — &Ije &poatoIic Conception of tlje Significance of 
tfje £)eat& of J estta 

Fourth Day : Paul's Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus (continued) 

i . The letters to the Corinthian Church are largely concerned with 
practical details of church life, and contain only incidental, though 
highly significant, allusions to the death of Jesus. Note the outspoken 
emphasis laid by Paul upon the crucifixion in I Cor. 1:13,17, 18, 
22-24 ; 2:2. Paul sees a connection between the death of Jesus and 
the new life of the individual believer. Notice the expression «« cru- 
cified for you ' ' in I Cor. 1:13; and the equally significant clause in 
I Cor. 8 : 1 1 . It is equally clear that this connection is in view of 
the wrong-doing of the individual, I Cor. 15:3. I Corinthians 
seems to have been written near the time of the passover festival, when 
all yeast, or " leaven," was scrupulously removed from the Jewish 
house, which fact leads Paul to speak of Christ as the Christian's pass- 
over sacrifice, I Cor. 5:7, 8. 

In I Cor. 11 : 24 it is evident that Paul saw in the Lord's Supper a 
commemoration of Jesus' death and its consequences in the life of the 
believer. He saw in it also " covenant blood " (I Cor. 11 : 25) 
which Jesus had so emphasized. Cf. Study VII, Fifth Day. 

2. In II Cor. 5 : 14, 15 there are presented the motives that 
actuated Jesus in His submission to death, the connection of His death 
with the new life of believers, and the attitude toward Jesus appropriate 
on the part of those benefited by His death. Read the passage care- 
fully. There appears here also (in the R. V. ) a Pauline conception 
already expressed in Gal. 2 : 20, namely, that the personality of the 
believer is so closely united by faith to that of Jesus that he may be 
said to have shared Jesus' death, resurrection, and new life. This 
closeness of relationship on the part of Jesus is described in striking 
language in the first clause of II Cor. 5:21, and, on the part of the 
believer, in the second clause. God was in Christ making an effort to 
get sinful men back to Himself (vv. 18, 19), and went so far out after 
them, and so deeply down into their situation, that Christ suffered 
death like a sinner, and suffered it on their behalf (v. 21), or gathered 
them up into His death (v. 14, R. V.; Gal. 2 : 20). Here again 
we come upon the old question, Does Paul explain how it was in their 
behalf? 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV.— W$t Apostolic Conception of tfoe Significance of 
X\t E)eatl) of JJestts 

Fifth Day : Paul's Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus (continued) 

i . The letter to the Romans contains an exposition of certain 
phases of Paul's gospel more systematic and complete than appears 
elsewhere. There reappears here the general view that Jesus died 
"for us," and because of our sins. Read carefully 4 : 25 ; 5:6; 
8 : 32 ; 14 : 15. The death of Christ is said to be an expression of 
God's love (5 : 8), and to be an arrangement of God for getting us 
back to Himself (5 : 10). 

2. The nearest approach to an explanation of the significance of the 
death of Jesus that is found anywhere in the Pauline letters appears in 
3 : 21-26. Read the paragraph, adopting the marginal reading 
" righteous," instead of " just," and " account righteous," instead of 
"justify." Paul is stating his great doctrine of so-called "justifica- 
tion by faith," namely, that whoever "believes in" Jesus, that is, 
accepts Him as the unquestioned Lord and Saviour of his life, is ac- 
counted by God "righteous," that is, rightly related to God and 
men. His submission of himself to Jesus necessarily involves his pur- 
posing to love God supremely and his neighbor as himself. This 
"accounting the believer righteous" involves the forgiveness of his 
past sins, and such association of him with the Holy Spirit as tends to 
keep him from habitual sin in the future (chap. 8). 

The statement here made is that it is in view of the death of Jesus 
that God "accounts righteous" him who believes in Jesus. The 
death of Jesus is something that exhibits God as acting ''righteously " 
in now ' s accounting righteous ' ' him who believes in Jesus, and in 
having forgiven penitent sinners in previous ages. Read carefully 
vv. 24-26. In this aspect of the situation the death, or "blood," 
of Jesus is represented as something "propitiatory" (v. 25), that is, 
as something that enables God to treat the penitent sinner "propi- 
tiously," or kindly. 

While this approaches an explanation, the fundamental question still 
arises, Does Paul explain bow the death of Jesus enables God to be 
righteous and pronounce righteous him who has faith in Jesus ? 

3. Paul's conception of a spiritual intimacy between the disciple 
and his Lord, so close as to involve sharing His death and resurrection, 
appears also here, in 6 : 1 - 1 1 . 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — Cjje Slpoatolte Conception of t&e H>ig;ntficanee of 
t&e £)eai& of Jesus 

Sixth Day : Paul's Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus (concluded) 

i . The later letters of Paul contain reminiscences of the conception 
of the significance of the death of Jesus which has been discovered in 
the earlier letters. They do not, with a single possible exception, add 
anything to this conception. 

See the general allusion in Eph. 1:75 its application to the non- 
Jewish element in the Asiatic churches, 2:13; and to the combina- 
tion of both the Jewish and the non-Jewish Christians in one body, 
2:16. In 5 : 25 a familiar expression appears. 

2. The thought of the letter to the Colossians is very similar to that of 
Ephesians. Note the high view of the personality of Christ in 1 : 15- 
19, and the consequent significance of the death of this exalted per- 
sonality in vv. 20-22. The bloody cross becomes central in the uni- 
verse, a peace-making agency whose influence is felt in both heaven 
and earth. 

In 2 : 14 the condemning ordinances of the Mosaic legislation with 
their penalties are figuratively represented as crucified, that is, as an- 
nulled in the case of the believer by the death of Jesus. 

3. In Phil. 2 : 8 and 3:10 certain phases of the Pauline thought 
appear. What is the force of the word "wherefore," 2 : 10? See 
also I Tim. 2 : 6 and Titus 2:14. 

" Let us take another long look upwards at this blessed Son of the 
Father's love, Cause and Corner-stone of the Universe, visible and in- 
visible, Head of the Church, giving law to His Body, and giving it 
also a law-fulfilling power. Behold Him ; He is Tabernacle forever 
of the eternal Plenitude, Bearer in His Incarnation of God-head itself, 
and therefore infinite Fountain for us of every resource which we need 
for life and holiness. And then let us make haste again to the foot of the 
Cross. Let us see this most mysterious Being nailed there with nails, 
and crowned with thorns, and torn by the Roman lance ; a dying, 
agonizing human frame yielding up a disembodied human spirit. And 
let us measure by such a Death, demanded, exacted, endured, accom- 
plished, the immensity of our need as sinners, and the immensity also 
of the reconciliation which is now for us — not to make, but to take. 
To Him be glory." H. C. G. Moule, Colossian Studies. 

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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIV. — C&e Apostolic Conception of t&e IS>ia;ntt!cante of 
tbe £>eat& of 3Nttg 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Gather up the points discovered during the week in such a way as 
to show what significance the early disciples saw in the death of Jesus, 
as indicated in the discourses in Acts ; what Peter's conception of it 
was, as seen in I Peter ; and what Paul's conception of it was. 

The following questions may help you to make a summary : 
What do they conceive to have been Jesus' motive in submitting to 
death ? What motive led God to allow His Christ to die ? Of what 
advantage is it to men that Christ died ? How is it of advantage to 
men that Christ died ? 

" We need, in this day of deepening insight, increasing labor, and 
heavier-pressing burden of the soul, — now, more than ever, we need 
to know a God who is not only above us, but also with us and for us. 
A God who is willing to suffer with His suffering children ; a God 
who Himself freely pays the greatest price that ever can be paid for 
the vindication of the holy law of life and the redemption of mankind 
from evil ; a God whose sacrifice is the Atonement, taking away the 
sin of the world, covering alike the transgressions of the ignorant and 
the degraded and the deeper offences of the enlightened and the privi- 
leged, and giving to all who repent a sure pledge of Divine forgiveness 
and help — to believe in such a God is peace and courage and a new 
hope for the world. Where shall the men of to-day find this Im- 
manuel, this present, sympathizing, suffering, redeeming Love ? 

" On the Cross of Calvary this God is revealed, crowned with 
thorns and enduring death for our sake." 

Henry Van Dyke, The Gospel for a World of Sin. 



iob 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study XV.— (Ejje gpostolic Conception of tjje Significance of 
t&e £)eat!) of testis 

( Continued') 

First Day : The Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus in Hebrews 

i . The Jewish element in the early Church seems not to have real- 
ized that their acceptance of Jesus' Messiahship involved the abandon- 
ment or alteration of any of the regular forms of Jewish worship. To 
their minds the Messiah was the one under whom the sacrificial system 
and all the temple ritual would be perfectly administered. The beau- 
tiful temple and its splendid ritual seemed even more sacred to them 
than to the orthodox Jews. It was, therefore, a great source of dis- 
tress and perplexity to them to see that, under the direction of the con- 
verted rabbi, Saul, the non-Jewish element in the Church, which had 
no special interest in these sacred forms of worship, was far outnum- 
bering the Jewish Christians. The Christian Church was coming to 
be a body largely made up of persons who were indifferent to that 
which was sacred to the devout Jew. As a further source of distress, 
the little Jewish minority found themselves sorely persecuted by their 
orthodox fellow-countrymen, and at times, apparently, excluded from 
participation in the temple worship which was so dear to them 
(Heb. 10: 13, 14). In this serious crisis, shortly before the de- 
struction of Jerusalem according to one view of the date of the letter 'to 
the Hebrews, God raised up an eloquent man who had once viewed 
the situation from their present standpoint, but who had found a way 
out of his perplexity ; a man who had found a way of discarding 
Mosaism, and yet regarding it as a divine system which had been rightly 
reverenced for centuries. He proposed to show the Jewish element in 
the Church that the revelation of God through Jesus Christ, while it 
was the legitimate outgrowth of that through Moses and the prophets 
(Heb. 1 : 1-4), was of an incomparably higher, more glorious order, 
and was intended entirely to displace Mosaism. He proposed to bring 
the Jewish Christians into the same liberty in which Paul had already 
established the Gentiles. 

He took up the great features of the Jewish system of worship and 
showed that there is something in Jesus Christ that corresponds to 
them, but so greatly surpasses them as properly to displace them. His 
argument necessarily was adapted to the needs of those whom he 
was seeking to relieve, and, in some of its details, does not im- 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

press the modern Christian, untrained in Jewish habits of thought and 
feeling. 

2. The priestly character of the view of the work of Jesus is seen in 
the expression " purification of sins," found at the very beginning, 
1:3. The first discussion of the significance of the death is found in 
2 : 9-18. The author has been asserting that the Messiah is superior 
to angels, a contention entirely unnecessary for those holding our high 
view of Him, but very necessary in the case of the Jews. The 
author feels that the death of the Messiah will seem to his readers a 
point of inferiority to deathless angels, and therefore proceeds to ex- 
plain the reasons for His death. In vv. 9, 10 what is represented as 
the consequence of death-suffering in the career and character of Jesus 
Himself? "Perfect," or "complete" (v. 10) in what particular ? 

What allusion is there in v. 9 to the effect of Jesus' death-suffering 
upon the character and career of others ? Vv. 11-13 seem to be a 
parenthetical justification of the use of the word "sons" in v. 10. 
Then in vv. 14-17 there follows a more explicit statement of the rea- 
son for the Messiah's death. It is necessary to remember that this is 
an explanation adapted to those whose thought of the Messiah, and of 
the religious life in general, was somewhat narrow and meager. The 
author' s thought will be brought out by two or three questions : How 
did the death and resurrection of Jesus bring to naught the power of 
the death-inflicting devil ? Furthermore, even though Jesus did pass 
through the experience of death unharmed, how did that fact prove 
that anyone else could do the same ? That is, what assumption, ex- 
pressed in the context regarding the relation of Jesus to His disciples, 
underlies the statement made in v. 15 ? 

It is not quite clear whether the author thinks of the word "propiti- 
ation " (v. 17) as applicable to Jesus' death, or to His whole priestly 
administration. In either case, what does the word mean here ? The 
thought of v. 10 needs to be constantly borne in mind. The priest is 
not a kindly disposed person who succeeds in making God share his 
kindly feeling, for the priest and all his propitiatory measures are an ap- 
pointment of God Himself, who is bent on "bringing many sons unto 
glory." 

3. The author's great fundamental thought is that Jesus in the 
largeness of His heart has called us "brothers" (v. 12), and means 
what He says. He feels toward us like a " brother." He who has 
" sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high " (1:3) is one 
of us. 

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Studies in the Teaching of yesus and His Apostles 

Study XV. — &fce Apostolic Conception of tlje IHsnificance of tjje 
£)eat& of fastis 

( Continued) 

Second Day : The Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus in Hebrews (concluded) 

i. The aim of the author of Hebrews, in his further discussion of 
the death of Jesus, is to show, in a fashion suited to the habits of 
thought of those addressed, how the death of Jesus displaces various 
features of the Jewish sacrificial system. The force of his method of 
argumentation is appreciated only when we realize that these readers 
had been trained from childhood to reverence rites and ceremonies of 
the Mosaic ritual that may seem artificial to those unacquainted with 
their significance. 

2. Read 7 : 26-28, which occurs in a section (4 : 14-7 : 28) de- 
voted to showing that Jesus is a priest superior to the Levitical priests, 
and so intended to displace them. In the last clause of v. 27 an an- 
ticipators allusion is made to the fact that He is a priest who sacrifices 
Himself. This thought is developed in 10 : 1-18, which represents 
Jesus as the supreme and final sacrifice. It is difficult to discern all the 
thought among various classes of people that underlay the different 
forms of sacrifice, but it seems clear that sacrifice was in general under- 
stood to be a way in which a penitent man might draw near to God. 

3. The high priest had to have blood when he entered the sacred 
inner chamber of the temple (9 : 6-8) ; Jesus with His own blood ap- 
peared before God and eternally displaced the high priest (vv. 11 -14). 

The familiar thought that Jesus' blood may be regarded as covenant 
blood re-appears here in 9 : 15-20 ; 10 : 29 ; 12 : 24 ; 13 : 20. 

4. Underneath all this symbolism, so helpful and significant to men 
trained in Jewish habits of thought, the dominant idea of the author 
is discerned in his exhortations, and perhaps most distinctly in 10 : 18- 
25. "Let us draw near!" (v. 22) is the dominant note. Jesus 
in all His activity, and especially in His death, is regarded by the 
author as one who brings men and God together. 

5. The motive that actuated Jesus in His submission to death is re- 
ferred to in 12:2. Every person needs an adequate motive. The 
greater the personality, the ampler must be the motive. What was 
there in Jesus' vision of the future that produced within Him a "joy," 
in comparison with which the shame of the cross seemed unworthy of 
mention ? 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XV.— W$t ^poatolic Conception of t&e i>iffntfitance of t&e 
E)eatl) of STesttfit 

( Continued) 

Third Day : John's Conception of the Significance of 
the Death of Jesus 

i . Read I John I : 7 and note what is mentioned as the effect of 
the death of Jesus upon the believer's life. Is there anything in the 
context (vv. 5-10) that shows what John means by "cleansing from 
sin ' ' ? The expression seems necessarily to involve a reformation in 
personal character. Is there, then, anything in the context which 
shows how this righteous personal character is secured ? Consider 
whether there can be any true forgiveness that does not seek the refor- 
mation of the wrong-doer. Does the paragraph explain what connec- 
tion there is between the death of Jesus and the reforming forgiveness 
of God ? Notice the less figurative statement in 3 : 16, and the phase 
of the death which John there had occasion to emphasize. 

2. Note the word that occurs in 2 : 2 and 4:10. Jesus' death is 
not specifically mentioned here, but in the light of 1 : 7 and 3:16 there 
seems little doubt that the death is intended. If it is God whose ac- 
tion is rendered propitious by the death of Jesus, note clearly that there 
was nothing in the death of Jesus, according to John's thought, that 
increased the love of God, for John in this sentence represents the 
death of Jesus to be an expression of the love of God. The death of 
Jesus may have been something that in some way made it suitable 
for God to adopt certain gracious measures in dealing with men, but it 
evidently was not needed to affect God's disposition. 

" The very God ! think, Abib ; dost thou think ? 
So, the All-great were the All-loving, too, — 
So, through the thunder comes a human voice 
Saying, * O heart I made, a heart beats here ! 
Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself ! 
Thou hast no power, nor may'st conceive of mine, 
But love I gave thee, with myself to love, 
And thou must love me toho have died for thee ! ' " 

Browning, An Epistle. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XV. — C&e Apostolic Conception of tfce i§>tflniffcance of tie 
£>eatl) of testis 

( Concluded) 

Fourth Day : Summary of the Apostolic Conception 
of the Significance of the Death of Jesus 

i. Turn to Study XIV, Seventh Day, and apply the last four 
questions suggested there to the work of the last three days. 

2. It has become evident that in the apostolic thought, as in the 
teaching of Jesus, the death of Jesus stands in some vital connection 
with the saving of men from wrong to right character. The apostolic 
writers do not hesitate to say, " He died for us." Certain statements 
seem distinctly to imply that God's infinitely gracious treatment of men 
is in view of the death of Jesus, though all the apostolic writers take 
care to emphasize the fact that God's love for men was the sending 
power behind the loving life and death of Jesus. They all proclaim 
the fact that the death of Jesus serves to bring God and men together. 
None of them, it seems, attempts to give a philosophical explanation of 
the fact. Perhaps this was one of the things that Paul had in mind 
when he said, " Now I know in part " (I Cor. 13 : 12). 

The Church has inherited this problem from the apostles as a subject 
for reverent contemplation. The results of such contemplation appear 
in various "theories of the atonement," all of which doubtless have 
contributed something to the ultimate solution, no one of which has 
proven finally and wholly adequate. This is what we should expect, 
for it has become increasingly clear in the history of Christian thinking 
that the suffering death of Jesus is in no sense a spectacular or super- 
ficial phenomenon, but that it is a real revelation of the very heart of 
God. To understand fully the significance of the suffering of Jesus, 
therefore, is to understand the inmost heart of God. Human thought 
has not reached the point where it is equal to this. Doubtless in the 
ages to come men will see with clearer and more sympathetic vision 
into the heart of God ; but perhaps there will always remain mysteri- 
ous depths in the heart of God, to a further penetration of which the 
contemplation of the suffering death of Jesus will still be essential. The 
cross of Christ, even in eternity, may not be an object of merely his- 
toric interest, but an eternal source of the better understanding of God. 



in 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XV.— Rebteto of J)art (Eton 

Fifth Day : Review of Studies IX, X, XI 

Remember that the theme of Part II is " The Apostolic Conception 
of Jesus and His Mission." The questions to be asked are, Who did 
the apostles think that He was ? What was, is, or is to be His chief 
business ? Glance rapidly over Studies IX, X, XI, and make any 
notes that will contribute to your final reply to these questions. 

Sixth Day : Review of Studies XII, XIII 

Go rapidly over Studies XII and XIII according to the suggestions 
made yesterday, and recall the summary of Studies XIV and XV. 



Seventh Day : Summary of Part II 

1. Write out in a brief paragraph your general statement of the 
apostolic conception of Jesus and His mission. 

2. The impression made upon one by the study of the apostolic lit- 
erature, is that the apostles had been profoundly influenced by a Great 
Person. Even if there were no Gospels, it would be evident that a 
Great Person had lived and was conceived to be still living, for in this 
literature we find a body of men worshiping Him ; and conceiving 
themselves to be in daily, vital association with the object of their wor- 
ship. "Christ liveth in me" is their calmly ecstatic statement. They 
regarded the Great Person as an eternal manifestation of God ; as the 
One through whom God brought all things into existence, in whose 
gracious man-life and divine death-suffering He came close to sinful 
men to make them righteous, and by whom God's endless Kingdom 
of redeemed men will be brought to consummation. This Great 
Person is at once God at His clearest and man at his best. 

Therefore, the real character of every individual, his attitude toward 
God and men, is revealed by his attitude toward this Great Person. 
The purpose of the apostles was by personal testimony to bring this 
Great Person before every man. 



" It shall be 
A Face like my face that receives thee ; a Man like to me, 
Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever : a Hand like this hand 
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee ! See the Christ stand ! " 

Browning, Saul. 
112 



PART III 

JESUS' CONCEPTION OF THE DISCI 
PLE AND HIS MISSION 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

■ ■■■■■—— ■!— ■— [■■■■ruin ■ ■imiwiiii m i m 111 rrrf an nil mini h i mn nipum p« i i i mih «i» 

Study XVI. — %tm&* Conception of JHen as potential Etetptas 

First Day : Jesus' Interest in Men 

i. In the two preceding Parts of the book we have considered "Je- 
sus' Conception of Himself and His Mission," and "The Apostolic 
Conception of Jesus and His Mission." We come now naturally to 
"Jesus' Conception of the Disciple and His Mission." Such a study- 
needs to be prefaced by a study of Jesus' attitude toward men in general. 

2. One of the most striking characteristics of Jesus was His won- 
derful interest in men. His apostles are upon record as impressed by 
the effect produced upon Him by the sight of crowds of men, an effect 
doubtless revealed in the expression of His eye and face, as well as in 
word and action. Read Matt. 9 : 35, 36 ; 14:13, 14. Much deal- 
ing with men in the mass did not, as is sometimes the case, cause His 
interest in individual men to abate. The last verse cited above shows 
how quickly He resolved the mass into cases of individual need. See 
also Luke 4 : 40. No greater evidence of His interest appears any- 
where than in the account of His quiet interview with the one name- 
less woman of Samaria. See John 4 : 27-34. 

Read His two most comprehensive descriptions of Himself, Luke 
4: 16-21; 7: 18-22, noting that their prominent characteristic is 
interest in men — and men who were not possessed of any extrinsic at- 
tractiveness, but who were just men. 

He made it very evident that His supreme interest was in the 
" Kingdom of God," but this " Kingdom " is made up of men. 

3. His interest included all classes, even those commonly regarded 
as socially and morally unfit for the society of religious men. Read 
Mark 2:13-16. Note what Mark 10:13-16 indicates regarding 
His interest in a bare human personality, as compared with the current 
thought even of good men. 

See how in Mark 2:27 His elevation of personality above institu- 
tions shows where His supreme interest centers. 

Try to realize the interest in men which prompted the utterance 
recorded in Mark 10 : 45. 

He represented this interest in a human personality as not peculiar to 
Himself, but as shared by God and heaven. Recall the illustrations 
taken from the life of the shepherd-folk and the housewife, and His 
description of the Glad Father in Luke 15, reading particularly vv. 
7, 10, 20-24. 

" Nor can it suit me to forget 
The mighty hopes that make us men." 

Tennyson, In Memoriam. 
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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVI.— testis' Conception of JHen as potential EHficipics 

Second Day : Jesus' Conception of What it is for a 

Man to be Lost 

i . It goes without saying that Jesus' profound interest in man was 
not assumed or artificial, but real. No one can be sincerely interested 
in a thing unless the thing itself be interesting. Sometimes it is one's 
own fault that he is not interested in what ought to interest him ; but 
granted that he is what he ought to be, as Jesus was, and it is true 
that if he is to feel interest in a thing, the thing must be interesting. 
The question arises, therefore, What was there about a man, con- 
sidered simply as a man, that made him seem interesting and valuable 
to Jesus ? 

Before reading further on this page consider any utterances of Jesus 
about men which you happen to remember, and express your opinion 
on this point. 

2. When He was called to account for His interest in the publican 
Zacchasus, what does His reply indicate to have been the one or two 
interesting features of Zacchasus' personality ? Read Luke 19:9, 10. 
Cf. also Mark 2 : 16, 17. 

3. Jesus was evidently affected by the fact that the men with whom 
He had to do were "lost," as He expressed it. What is it, then, in 
Jesus' thought to be "lost" ? The best commentary on the word is 
found in Luke 15. Read vv. 1-10, noting that it is the publicans, 
spoken of in the passage cited above as lost, that are under discussion. 
A thing is lost when it gets away from the place where it belongs, and 
is in danger of never getting back. A person is lost when he gets 
away from the person to whom he belongs, and is in danger of not 
getting back. One person may get away from another without being 
separated from him in space. A child who cares nothing for his 
father, and would be equally content to go with any one of the hun- 
dreds of persons passing him and his father on the street, is more hope- 
lessly "lost" to his father than is the child who, a block away from 
his father, stands frightened and crying for him. Read Luke 15 : 11* 
32, and consider what it was that constituted the son "lost" (v. 24) 
in the estimation of his father. Now turn again to Luke 19: 10, and 
state what it was in the persons of the class to which this man belonged 
that constituted them "lost." 



116 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVI.— Jesus' Conception of ffiitn as potential TDmi$lzs 

Third Day : — Jesus' Conception of What it is for a 
Man to be Lost (concluded) 

i. A person is "lost" if he becomes spiritually estranged from 
those to whom he belongs and upon association with whom the wel- 
fare of his being depends. The question arises, To whom did Jesus 
consider men to belong ? The answer is patent in the teaching of 
Jesus. Read Matt. 22 : 37-40. Men belong to God and to each 
other. Those who do not care for God and for each other are "lost." 
A son who does not care for his father and his brothers is "lost" to the 
family. This is simply one way of describing the profoundly selfish man. 

2. Is it possible to ascertain from the teaching of Jesus what the fate 
of the lost man is ? In other words, What does He represent to be the 
effects of selfishness upon the personality of the selfish man ? Read 
Matt. 25 : 41-46, and ascertain whether it throws any light on Jesus' 
conception of the fate of the man who fails to care for God and his 
fellow men. Evidently some of the language used here is figurative, 
but what seems to you to be the dreadful fact behind the figure ? 

A significant clause in the description of a selfish man's fate is found 
in John 12 : 24, 25. A man who insists on living for himself, who 
refuses to care for God and his fellow men, in the nature of the case 
cannot form friendships. The friend-making power is destroyed by 
disuse, and he is, therefore, condemned by the law of his own being 
to eternal solitude. He must " abide alone." What the ultimate 
effect of this eternal solitude upon the personality is, the teaching of 
Jesus does not reveal. The two royal faculties of the soul, the ability 
to love and the ability to achieve, would seem to be destroyed. The 
soul has cut itself off from friends and work. It has "departed" 
(Matt. 25 : 41) from the personality who is Himself the great Friend 
and the great Workman, the source of all friendship and achievement. 
Such a soul takes its place with the drift and refuse of the universe, 
"unprofitable," good for nothing. Read Matt. 25 : 30. 

3. Whether this be or be not a true view of Jesus' conception of 
the fate of the " lost" personality, it is certain that Jesus regarded the 
fate of the lost as an inconceivably lamentable catastrophe. Read the 
solemn warning in Luke 9:25. 

" Which way I fly is Hell ; myself am Hell." 

Milton, Paradise Lost. 

117 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVI.— %zmg Conception of ;Pten as potential EHeiripies 

Fourth Day : — Jesus' Conception of What it is for a 
Man to be Found 

i . One of the most interesting characteristics of man is his capacity 
for becoming lost. A commonplace, every-day man, like those with 
whom Jesus was constantly mingling, is capable of becoming a lost man 
— may already be a lost man. On the other hand, he is capable of be- 
coming something diametrically the opposite of this state of " lostness." 

2. If to be lost is to fail to care for God as a Father and for men as 
brothers, then to be " found," or to be " saved," both of which were 
favorite words of Jesus, is to be brought to feel a vital, personal interest 
in God as a Father and men as brothers. It is to take one's proper 
place in God's family. Read again Luke 15 : 18-24, ^ s ^ me m or der 
to see the new feeling for God as a Father which constitutes the " lost " 
man " found" (v. 24), and enables him to take his place in the 
Father's household. 

Study the case of the lost man described in Luke 19 : 1-10, whom 
Jesus succeeded in finding (vv. 9, 10), and see in what his " found - 
ness " consisted. It is not evident whether he regarded Jesus as the 
Messiah or not, but at least he regarded Him as a prophet of God, and 
felt delighted surprise at the unexpected honor of entertaining Him. 
He seemed to feel, however, that when Jesus learned who he was 
(v. 7), He would instantly withdraw from him as all the other relig- 
ious men he had ever known had done. He resolved to keep his guest 
at any cost, and on the spot formed and expressed a resolution (v. 8) 
that drew from Jesus the glad recognition of the fact that he was 
"saved" or "found" (vv. 9, 10). What was it in his attitude 
toward God, as expressed in his treatment of God's prophet — or Mes- 
siah if he recognized Him as such — and in his attitude toward men, 
as expressed in his new resolution, that shows him to have taken his 
proper place in God's family ? 

"The poor represent man stripped of all extrinsic attributes of hon- 
or, and reduced to that which is common to all mankind. On this 
naked humanity the world has ever set little value. It begins to inter- 
est itself in a man when he is clothed with some outward distinction of 
wealth or birth or station. A mere man is a social nobody. Christ, 
on the other hand, highly valued in man only his humanity, accounting 
nothing he could possess of such importance as he himself was or might 
become." Bruce, The Kingdom of God. 

118 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVI. — ^jtsm* Conception of JHen as; JJotcntial £)teriples 

Fifth Day : Jesus' Conception of What it is for a 
Man to Live 

i. Another word which was frequently upon Jesus' lips, as He 
thought of the possibilities of the interesting human personalities with 
which He had to do, was the word " life," or " eternal life." The 
expression " alive " seems to be synonymous with " found " (cf. Luke 
15 : 24) or " saved"; and it is easy to see why this is so. Life is 
sometimes defined as the adaptation of an organism to its surroundings. 
The fish floundering in the mud cannot live because of the lack of such 
adaptation, whereas, pushed into the water to which its organism is 
adapted, it lives. What, then, are the essential features in the surround- 
ings of man ? Looking above the realm of air and food, they are 
persons, God, the supreme Person, and men. What is such adaptation 
to this personal environment as constitutes life ? Jesus' reply to this 
question is perfectly clear: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. " " This do and thou 
shalt /ive." Read Luke 10 : 25-28. Cf. John 17 : 3. 

In other words, he who treats God as a real Father and men as real 
brothers, who takes his proper place in God's family, as was said in 
yesterday's study, "lives" in Jesus' conception of the word. 

2 . Read on through Lake 10:30-37,^ which Jesus draws a picture of 
a man who was " alive " and contrasts him with two men who, though 
professional religionists, were nevertheless not "alive." Then read 
again vv. 25-28, 37. What was it that constituted this man " alive " ? 

In Mark 10 : 17-22 study Jesus' treatment of another man who had 
some desire to begin to " live " (v. 17). The requirement made in 
v. 2 1 is not an arbitrary one, nor one made simply to test his readiness 
to obey. In the very nature of things the only way for the young man 
to begin to " live" was to begin to be a true brother to other men, 
and in following Jesus to be a true son to God. In this connection 
read once more Matt. 25 : 34-40. 

3. Human life is an era of beginnings. A physician bends anxiously 
over a patient, until his skilled eye detects certain favorable symptoms, 
and then turns away saying, "He will live I" although the patient 
has still before him many a weary week in bed. So it may be that 
when God detects the beginnings of a really unselfish love for Himself 
and His children in us, He can say that we have begun to live, though 
the beginnings of life be but feeble and require long nursing for their 
development into strength. 

119 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVI.— %zm.ti Conception of Jlen as potential Disciples 
Sixth Day : Jesus' Desire for Disciples 

i. Jesus felt confident that by becoming His disciples men would 
begin to "live," or be "saved," or "found." In the Gospel of 
John particularly He steadily connects believing on Him with the at- 
tainment of eternal life. See John 6 : 40. 

It remains to be asked how believing on Jesus, or becoming His dis- 
ciple, can give a man "life." To believe in Jesus, as was seen in 
Study II, Sixth Day, is to surrender to Him in loving trust as the 
Lord and Friend He represents Himself to be. Such surrender neces- 
sarily involves the loving of God as a Father and one's neighbor as one's 
self that constitutes life, for Jesus Christ in His own person represents 
to us both God and men. He is God in His clearest manifestation of 
Himself, so that to love Him is to love God. He also has devoted 
Himself to men, so that to attach one's self to Him is to join Him in 
His devotion to men. See the evidence of this in Mark 10:21, 
where Jesus was directing the young man into life (v. 17). 

2. Does Jesus hold that all men need to become disciples in order 
to have life ? Consider whether the following statements do, or do 
not, assume the universal selfishness of humanity : Luke 11:13; 13:1- 
5 ; John 3 : 1-6. Add any other statements that occur to you. 

3. Does Jesus hold that all men are capable of becoming disciples ? 
Consider the bearing of Matt. 1 1 : 28-30 ; 28 : 19, 20 on this point. 
Jesus' universal interest in men of all classes seems to imply His confi- 
dence that there is a capacity for discipleship in every man ; that every 
man by virtue of simply being a man is capable of becoming a true son 
to God and a true brother to his fellow-men. Jesus carried with Him, 
as He went about among men, a certain confident hopefulness that was 
nevertheless not based on a superficially optimistic view of their needs ; 
and the results justified His expectation. He came sometimes with His 
friendly offer of discipleship to what others had abandoned as the mere 
wreckage and ruin of a human personality, and found that something in 
the wreckage and ruin rose up in response with a glad sense of surprise 
and new possibility. 

4. In the light of these conceptions, imagine the deep desire of heart 
with which He spoke such words as Matt. 1 1 : 28-30 ; 28 : 19, 20. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVI.— %t&ntf Conception of Jften as JJotenttal SDtectplea 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week, summarizing the evidences of Jesus' 
interest in men ; the reasons for such interest ; the possibilities of a 
human personality ; the advantages to men of discipleship as the means 
of realizing these possibilities. 

" To value human nature in its ideal is one thing, to take flattering 
views of its real state as seen in the average man is another. Jesus did 
the former ; He did not do the latter. The interest He took in the 
poor, the suffering, the depraved, was not sentimental. These classes 
were not pets of whose condition he took an indulgent, partial view, 
deeming the poor victims of wrong, and the sinful good-hearted, though 
weak-willed people. . . . He saw in human lives all around 
Him the evidence of sin's corrupting, deadening, enslaving power. 
He saw in the sinful something more than death, depravity, 
and bondage. . . . On this better element He ever kept His 
eye ; His constant effort was to get into contact with it, and He re- 
fused to despair of success. Most significant in this connection are the 
words in which He compared the multitude, whose spiritual destitution 
moved His compassion, to an abundant harvest waiting to be reaped. 
The comparison implies not only urgency, but susceptibility. The 
grain is ready to be reaped. . . . Doubtless it was a harvest not 
visible to the professional religious guides of Israel. . . . What 
was apparent to them was merely the ignorance, the vice, the sordid 
misery of the million ; not a harvest, but a heap of rotting weeds ex- 
citing aversion. The harvest existed only for the eye of faith whose 
vision was sharpened by love. Therein precisely lay the difference 
between Jesus and the Rabbis. Where they saw only useless, noxious 
rubbish, He, with His loving, hopeful spirit, saw useful grain ; not 
mere sin, but possibilities of good ; not utter hopeless depravity, but 
indefinite capabilities of sanctity. There an extensive harvest for the 
kingdom might be reaped, in the conversion of profligates into devotees, 
of moral outcasts into exemplarv citizens, of ignorant men into attached 
disciples." Bruce, The Kingdom of God. 



121 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVII. — testis' Conception of t&e T)im$U in Relation to 

himself 

First Day : Jesus' Conception of the Disciple as 
Learning His Teaching 

1 . It is due to the Jewish environment of early Christianity that 
the adherents of Jesus are called " disciples." The Jewish Rabbis had 
disciples, and the adherents of Jesus were naturally called by the same 
title. The name is not found at all in the Epistles, and in the Gospels 
it often designates the Twelve ; but through the influence of the wider 
application in the Gospels — particularly in Luke's Gospel — and in the 
Acts, it has become a part of the permanent vocabulary of the Church. 

2. Its primary meaning, a "learner," has appealed to the Chris- 
tian consciousness as a permanently appropriate designation. Jesus 
emphasized this aspect of discipleship. He was ordinarily addressed 
by His disciples as "Teacher" (usually translated " Master"), and 
applied the title to Himself, Matt. 23 : 8 ; 26 : 18 ; John 13 : 13. 
The word very frequently used to designate His public or private 
speaking is the word "teach," e.g., Matt. 5 : 2. 

3. His disciples were those from whom He expected a long and 
attentive hearing. Note the impressive way in which He expressed 
this idea at certain critical times, Matt. 11:15; 13 19, 16, 43 ; 
Luke 14 : 35. Note also the special pains He took to instruct the 
inner circle of disciples, Mark 4: 10, II, 33, 34, and His emphasis 
of " commandments," John 15 : 10. His great rest-call to the multi- 
tudes (Matt. 11 : 28-30) was in the phraseology of the teaching rabbi, 
though it required, as will be seen later, more than mere listening to 
instruction. It was this work of teaching His disciples which He 
found Himself for evident reasons unable to complete, John 16 : 12. 

Note also the prominence of this function in His program for His 
Kingdom, Matt. 28 : 19, 20. Cf. one phrase in Acts 2 : 42. 

4. It is a happy circumstance that the Church of our day, in obe- 
dience to this conception of discipleship, is turning to the f< Teaching 
of Jesus." Books bearing this title, or some modification of it, are 
appearing in great numbers. Perhaps the time is not far distant when 
it will be recognized as absurd for one to assume the role of a "dis- 
ciple " and make no effort to learn the teaching of his Teacher. 



122 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVII.— %zm&' Conception of t(je SDiscipIe in Relation to 

Jbimseif 

Second Day : Jesus' Conception of the Disciple in Per- 
sonal Association with Himself 

i . The disciple is thought of not simply as one who is learning that 
which is to be taught by spoken or written words. The language in 
which Jesus sometimes invited men to become disciples is significant. 
See for instance Matt. 9:9; John 1 : 43. The expression indicates, 
in such connection, a more or less permanent " accompanying. " It 
was not an invitation to listen to lectures at certain hours, but an invi- 
tation to personal association. Read once more the first half of Mark 
3 : 14, in which is made a partial statement of the purpose and nature 
of discipleship in the case of the Twelve. Turn again to Matt. 1 1 : 28- 
30, noting that, although verbal teaching is doubtless involved, it is 
nevertheless His own personality (v. 29) that is cited as the source of 
rest. 

2. It has already been noted in the study of Jesus' consciousness, 
Study VI, Fourth Day, that He anticipated spiritual association with 
His disciples after His disappearance from the earth. The significance 
of this from the disciples' standpoint is to be considered here. Con- 
ceive yourself to be one of those mentioned in Matt. 1 8 : 20 or in the 
last clause of 28 : 20. The Church has, probably with good right, 
conceived the statements made to the Twelve in John 14-16 to be 
applicable to all disciples. Note there in such sentences as 14 : 23 ; 
15:5 the permanent personal association with Himself which Jesus 
anticipated for the disciples. 

3. It is this aspect of the thought of Jesus that gives such force to the 
word " disciple " as a designation of the Christian of to-day. His 
discipleship does not consist in such admiring study of the extant teach- 
ing of his Master as might be accorded to the works of Confucius, nor 
is it a reverent regard for His memory. There is a present personal 
contact of personalities. The influence of the Teacher is experienced 
by the disciple day by day as that of a contemporary personality. 
The disciple of Jesus is one who is learning from Jesus to be a true son 
to God and a true brother to his fellow-men ; and he learns this not 
merely from Jesus' teaching, but from daily association with the per- 
sonality of Jesus. 



123 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVII.— testis' Conception of tl)e £Hscipie in Eelatton to 

himself 

Third Day : Jesus' Conception of the Mutual Love of 
the Disciple and his Lord 

i . We have now to investigate the nature of this close relationship 
between Jesus and His disciple. 

Read again Matt. 10: 37-39 and its more strenuous parallel, Luke 
14:25-33, and see what Jesus expected of the disciple. The Twelve 
were such inveterate office-seekers all through Jesus' lifetime (Luke 
22 : 24, 25) that it is not easy to ascertain to what extent they be- 
came personally attached to Him. There is one touching exhibition 
of such personal attachment on the part of a member of the group who 
seems to have been among the more stolid, less spiritually alert (John 
20 : 25), but perhaps also less politically ambitious, members of the 
group. Read John 11 : 7-16. 

We have in this connection a glimpse of the affection with which 
Jesus was regarded in the Bethany home, John 11 : 1-3; and we have 
a suggestive expression of Jesus' hungry appreciation of such personal 
affection, Mark 14 : 6-9. 

2. There is no doubt about Jesus' devotion to His disciples. Read 
Matt. 12 : 46-50. In His last hours He seemed, according to the 
Gospel of John, to cast off reserve and give unrestrained expression to 
His feelings. Read the strong language in John 15:9 and try to 
imagine the tone and the look with which He said what is recorded in 
vv. 13-15. He felt that He must have them always with Him, 
17:24; 14:3. It is evident from 17 : 20 that unborn disciples 
were included in His thought. It is not strange that John, remember- 
ing these tender last hours, should preface his account of them with the 
statement found in 13:1 (marginal reading). 

The solicitude for His disciples expressed in John 1 8 : 8 is sugges- 
tive in this connection, as is the speedy message to them after the resur- 
rection, John 20 : 17. 

The representation of the Synoptic Gospels, though more meagre, is 
in accord with that of John's Gospel. Note the readiness to share 
expressed in Luke 22 : 28-30, and the solicitude for His disciples ex- 
pressed in verses 31, 32. See also the broad, affectionate identification 
of Himself with all disciples in Matt. 25 : 35-40. 



124 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVII. — JJestts' Conception of t&e SDisriple in Relation to 

pimxtlt 

Fourth Day : Jesus' Ambition for His Disciples 

i. In Jesus' conception of discipleship, as presented in the Gospel 
of John, there is a mutual sharing of each other described in the ex- 
pression " abiding in Me, and I in him," John 15:5. The generos- 
ity of Jesus' deep love for the disciple appears in what He proposes to 
share with the disciple. Some of His expressions are startling in the 
richness of the expectations they arouse. Read John 15 : 11. He 
proposes to introduce the disciples to the deep sources of His own joy. 
Read John 14:27, remembering the unhurrying peacefulness and 
poise in Jesus' busy life. 

Men in general like a place a little above that of their fellows. It 
is their own pre-eminence over at least some others that makes their 
place in life desirable ; but read John 14:2, 3. 

Many men have the same feeling about pre-eminence in achieve- 
ment ; but read John 14:12. 

One likes to think of his own mission as a distinctive thing pecu- 
liarly his own. Read John 20 : 21. 

His vision of God He shared with them. John 15:15; 17:6. 

Even His "glory," the meaning of which it would be interesting 
to stop to consider, He does not propose to possess apart from the dis- 
ciple. See John 17 : 22. 

They also share His difficulties, John 15 : 18-21 ; and His victory 
over them, 16 : 33. 

2. All these come, it would seem, not through any mechanical im- 
partation or fiat of power, but through the intimate personal relation of 
discipleship. They are learned from Him. A deepening acquaint- 
ance with Jesus brings them in ever-enlarging measure. Evidently 
here is a field of experience in the realm of discipleship, from entrance 
into which Jesus was anxious to have His disciples secure large results. 



125 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVII.— ^tmtf Conception of tfje £>iacipie in Eeiatton to 

pimszli 

Fifth Day : The Disciple Sharing his Master's Self- 
denial 

i . Into the midst of disciples fascinated by the apparent opportu- 
nity for political advancement in the coming Kingdom, came Jesus with 
startling words about a cross and self-denial. Read Mark 8: 31-37. 
The question here is, What is it for a disciple "to deny himself" ? 
Notice that the disciple is called to " come after " his Master in this 
matter. It is an instance of the mutual sharing which constitutes the 
essence of discipleship. The answer to the question, then, must be 
gained from the illustration of what it is to deny one' s self afforded by 
the career of Jesus. Think of the meaning of the words to " deny 
one's se/f." How did Jesus deny His own "self" ? Did it in- 
volve the obliteration of personal characteristics, the sacrifice of His 
individuality ? Did it involve the sacrifice of His own personal devel- 
opment ? That is, Was His personality less in any way than it would 
have been had He not denied Himself? Study the context in making 
reply to these questions. 

In what respect would you amend the following sentences : To 
deny one's self is to deny to one's self the right to the supreme place 
in thought and action. It is to put the interests of other " selves" 
upon a level with those of one's own "self." 

In Jesus' presentation of the subject, self-denial seems to consist, not 
so much in specific actions to be performed at intervals, as in a funda- 
mental and permanent disposition. In all one's personal habits he 
does not content himself with asking, Will this practice injure me ? He 
asks instantly a second question, What would be the effect of my do- 
ing this upon others ? He does not ignore himself, but he proposes no 
longer to do anything solely because his self wants it done. Compare 
the homely statement of Paul in Phil. 2:4. 

2. What are the consequences of the denial of one's self, either in 
the case of Jesus or His disciples, as stated in Mark 8:31-37? 

If eternal life consists in eternal friendships, as was seen to be the 
case in Study XVI, Fifth Day, then the fundamental importance of 
self-denial is evident, for no man is capable of an eternal friendship 
who does not deny himself. What light, if any, does this thought 
throw on the intensity with which Jesus repelled Peter's suggestion 

( v - 33)- ? 

126 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVII. — %tm&* Conception of X\t CHsiripIe in Eelation to 

{Jimself 

Sixth Day: The Disciple Sharing his Master's Rest 

1. One of the most fundamentally important phases of the disciple's 
relation to Jesus is described in a passage already several times noted in 
other connections, Matt. 1 1 : 28-30. Read it again slowly and with 
the effort to determine the meaning of every word as you read. The 
questions that arise are, What does Jesus mean by "rest " ? and, How 
does the disciple secure it ? 

2. Is rest inactivity ? Notice that Jesus does not discard the phrase- 
ology of toil, "yoke," "burden" (v. 30). He seems to have in 
mind an easy way to wear a yoke, and a way of bearing a burden that 
will not prove burdensome. He appeals to His own example (v. 29), 
and certainly His was not an inactive life. 

Is rest a result of the ability to gratify all of one's desires ? Is it im- 
munity from difficulties and annoyances ? Consider here again the 
career of Jesus. How then would you define "rest" ? 

3. What is Jesus' recipe for rest ? The secret of rest is evidently 
to be learned in the sphere of discipleship. According to v. 29 what 
is it that a disciple must " learn " from Jesus in order that he may have 
rest? In what did Jesus' "meekness" and "lowliness of heart" 
consist ? Did they involve an under-estimate of Himself? 

4. Consider the relation of pride to unrest. The chief occasion of 
our unrest is the fact that others have better things, greater honors, 
higher social position, more consideration shown them than we have. 
This fact has power to affect us solely because we are proud. We are 
chagrined that we cannot fill a larger place, and are kept from doing 
our best in the place we can fill ; or we strain ourselves trying to get 
out of our present place, instead of quietly outgrowing it, because we 
are proud. We are sensitive, "touchy," easily slighted; we chafe, 
fret, worry, fear that we shall be seen to fail, shrink from meeting 
strangers, and anxiously forebode blunders, chiefly because of our pride. 
Imagine Jesus to have been affected by these things ! 

Through the disciple's intimate association with Jesus, he learns to 
lay aside pride, to rejoice in the successes of others, and to accept sim- 
ply and thankfully such opportunities for service as the day brings. 

5. The word " learn " implies that the secret of rest is not imparted 
in a moment. To "learn" it requires time and persistent association 

127 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

with Jesus. He must have the daily companionship and attention of 
His disciples in order to communicate His rest. 

Daily life with its multitude of perplexities, difficulties, failures, dis- 
tractions, is what Jesus had in mind when he issued His great rest-call. 
He apparently did not propose to alter the disciple's surroundings, but 
to teach him rest just where he was. 

fl O Master, let me walk with Thee 
In lowly paths of service free ; 
Tell me Thy secret ; help me bear 
The strain of toil, the fret of care. 

t( Help me the slow of heart to move 
By some clear winning word of love j 
Teach me the wayward feet to stay, 
And guide them in the homeward way. 

"Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee 
In closer, dearer company, 
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, 
In trust that triumphs over wrong ; 

" In hope that sends a shining ray 

Far down the Future's broadening way, 
In peace that only Thou canst give, 
With thee, O Master, let me live ! " 

Washington Gladden. 



128 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVII.— %tm&' Conception of tlje £)ieiuple in Eelatton to 

himself 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Gather up the main points of the week's study, and put them into 
compact and definite form. What is " discipleship " in the thought of 
Jesus ? What are the disciple and his Master to each other ? What 
have they in common ? What are the advantages of discipleship to the 
disciple ? What would Jesus consider to constitute the success of a 
disciple, as far as the study of this week has revealed His thought ? 

" Yes, for me, for me He careth 

With a brother's tender care ; 
Yes, with me, with me He shareth 

Every burden, every fear. 
Yes, o'er me, o'er me He watcheth, 

Ceaseless watcheth, night and day : 
Yes, ev'n me, ev'n me He snatcheth 

From the perils of the way. 

u Yes, for me He standeth pleading, 

At the mercy-seat above ; 
Ever for me interceding, 

Constant in untiring love. 
Yes, in me abroad He sheddeth 

Joys unearthly, love and light ; 
And to cover me He spreadeth 

His paternal wing of might ! 

" Yes, in me, in me He dwelleth j 

I in Him, and He in me ! 

And my empty soul He filleth, 

Here and through eternity ! 
Thus I wait for His returning, 

Singing all the way to heaven : 
Such the joyful song of morning, 
Such the tranquil song of even." 

Horatius Bonar. 



129 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII. — Seaus* Conception of tlje SDtectpIe a* a Son of 
t&e J>eaoenlj> jFat&er 

First Day : The Disciple a Son of God 

1. As was seen in Part I, Jesus conceived His mission to be, in 
part at least, the revealing of God as the Father and the attaching of 
men to Himself as such a revelation. We need now to see clearly 
that in the close intimacy between Himself and His disciples, which 
constituted the theme of last week's study, this bringing of men to 
God is accomplished. The prominent feature of the disciple's rela- 
tion to Jesus was seen to be Jesus' disposition to share what He had 
with the disciple. John, in whose presentation this feature is so prom- 
inent, himself emphasized the fact that this involved for the disciple a 
share in the filial relation of Jesus to His Heavenly Father. Read John 
I : 12. Does this sharing of His Sonship with the disciple preclude 
any uniqueness of filial relationship to God on the part of Jesus ? Is 
He in any essential particular different from any of the other sons of 
God ? On this point see in the Synoptic presentation Matt. 1 1 : 27; 
and in John's Gospel note 1:18; 3:13; 14: 6, 9; and any other 
passages that occur to you. 

2. Turn again to the last clause of John 20 : 17, and note the vivid 
way in which this truth of sonship by virtue of discipleship is pre- 
sented. It is the truth that is uppermost in His mind as He comes 
freshly from His victory over death. It is as though He stood for a 
moment with one arm about the disciple, pointing upward and trying, 
in the quiet enthusiasm of His victory over death, to arouse the dis- 
ciple's slow apprehension by putting the great truth in its simplest 
form : " My Father, your Father ! " 

In the Synoptic presentation, Matt. 28 : 10, note the one word 
that involves this thought of common sonship. 

3 . The more fundamental question arises, What is it to be a son of 
God ? It would seem that there must be the basis for a filial relation- 
ship in the very nature of man. A dog is a kind of creation that does 
not have it in him to be a son of God, while man is made in the image 
of God. This suggestion of sonship in man's very nature is of no 
avail unless there be a real recognition of God as a Father. The man 
must really be such a son as a Father like God ought to have. This 
phase of the subject will be taken up to-morrow. 



130 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII. — JJesttsi' Conception of t&e ^Disciple aa a &on of 
t&e I|)eatenlp father 

Second Day : The Disciple's Spiritual Resemblance to 
his Heavenly Father 

i. Jesus made earnest with this great conception of the disciple as a 
son of the Heavenly Father. To Him the words were no mere title, but 
the expression of a great reality. His conception of the disciple in- 
volved a real and growing resemblance on the part of the disciple to 
God, which would make it proper to call him a son of the Heavenly 
Father. There was, at least to His discerning eye, some evidence of 
kinship. The assumption underlying the spirited conversation reported 
in John 8 : 31-47 seems to be that similarity of character constitutes 
spiritual kinship. Read the passage. Jesus anticipates for His dis- 
ciples such growth in " truth," or " righteousness," through associa- 
tion with Himself (v. 3 1 ) as will make them like in character to His 
Father, who has just been described as a " true " God (v. 26). As 
a result of such likeness of character they will be entitled to be called 
free " sons " in God's household (vv. 32-36). Those with whom 
He is conversing have no such likeness in character to Abraham as 
entitles them to be called " children of Abraham " (v. 39). They 
suggest the Old Testament thought, that they belong to a nation whose 
Father is God ; and that they are not the children of ancestors who 
were idolatrous and so faithless to the marriage covenant of Jehovah 
and His people (v. 41). Jesus says that they have no likeness in 
character to God, and so cannot call themselves His children (vv. 42, 
43, 47). In their desire to kill Him (v. 40) and in their aversion 
to truth they show a likeness in character to the devil, who at his 
first appearance in the garden of Eden had a lie on his lips and mur- 
derously occasioned the death of Adam (v. 44 ; cf. Gen. 3 : 3, 4). 

2. In what fundamental feature of character did Jesus expect His 
disciples so to resemble their Father as to justify their title ? Read 
carefully Luke 6:35, 3^ anc ^ tne entire paragraph, vv. 27-38. 
Compare also the parallel passage, Matt. 5 : 43-48. 

Read also Matt. 5 : 3-12, some parts of which seem to be descrip- 
tive of the ideal disciple ; and see whether they represent points of re- 
semblance to God. 



131 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII.— %tmti Conception of tlje £)isctple m a i§>on of 
tjje ^eabenlp jFat&er 

Third Day : The Disciple a Forgiven and Well-Be- 
loved Son of the Heavenly Father 

i. There is one feature of the disciple's relation to his Heavenly 
Father that gives it a peculiar tenderness, namely, his Father's forgive- 
ness. Read Matt. 9 : 2-6 to see Jesus' idea of the prominence of this 
feeling in the disciple's consciousness. Read also Luke 7 : 36-50. 

Read once more, for light upon this point, Luke 15 : 18-24, tr y~ 
ing to imagine yourself to be the returning son during the days of re- 
flection on the homeward journey and at the time of his arrival. Con- 
sider also what must have been his thoughts during his subsequent life 
at home, as he looked back upon his past career. 

Consider for a few moments only, since the subject will come up 
again, what forgiveness really is. 

2. The affection of Jesus for His disciples, portrayed in last week's 
study, is really the love of God revealed in Him. Notice in addition 
the explicit statements of Jesus regarding the Father's love for the dis- 
ciple. Sum up the thought of John 14 : 21-23; 16 : 26, 27; 17 : 23. 

3. There are certain moods or phases of the soul's life which noth- 
ing will satisfy but the thought of the love of Jesus Christ for His dis- 
ciple. Certain other phases of its deep need are met only by the con- 
sciousness of the love of an infinite Fatherly Spirit, lying back of all 
objective manifestation, to which the human heart may utter all its cry. 
It is this resource that is opened by Jesus to the forgiven child of the 
Heavenly Father. 

11 My God, how wonderful thou art, 
Thy majesty how bright ! 
How glorious is thy mercy-seat, 
In depths of burning light ! 
" Yet I may love thee too, O Lord 
Almighty as thou art ; 
For thou hast stooped to ask of me 
The love of my poor heart. 
" No earthly father loves like thee, 
No mother half so mild 
Bears and forbears, as thou hast done 
With me, thy sinful child. 
" My God, how wonderful thou art, 
Thou everlasting Friend ! 
On thee I stay my trusting heart 

Till faith in vision end." — Frederick William Faber 

132 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII. — $zm&' Conception of X\t ^Disciple a* a i&on of 
tfce |)eatoenlp Jatjjet 

Fourth Day: The Disciple Cared For and Kept by 
his Heavenly Father 

i . Jesus, with His clear, unwavering sense of the Father in Himself, 
promised to the disciple also a sense of the Fatherly presence. Read 
John 14:23 and note the special emphasis which Jesus lays on this 
statement as a message from the invisible world forth from which He 
came (v. 24). 

In the Synoptic Gospels the same thought is presented in another 
connection. See Matt. 6:6, 18. 

2. Note the extent to which this Fatherly presence is represented by 
Jesus as minutely concerned with the details of the disciple's life. See 
Matt. 10 : 30, 31 ; 6 : 25. What is the argument in the last clause 
of v. 25 ? Read also vv. 31, 32, remembering that Jesus speaks to 
His disciples here authoritatively. What is the force of** therefore" 
in v. 34 ? 

3. Trace the idea of watchfulness and keeping in John 10 : 27-31. 
What is meant here by ** snatch them out of the Father's hand" ? 
What is the fact behind the figure here? Read also 17 : 11, 12. 
** Keep them " where and from what ? 

4. The disciple has depths in his being, rudimentary as human per- 
sonality may be, that reach far down into the being of the Eternal and 
Perfect Personality. In these secret places he touches the Eternal 
Father and the divine life wells up in him. 

" Still, still with thee, my God, 
I would desire to be ; 
By day, by night, at home, abroad, 
I would be still with thee." 

" With thee amid the crowd 

That throngs the busy mart, 
To hear thy voice, 'mid clamor loud, 
Speak softly to my heart. 

** With thee, when day is done, 

And evening calms the mind, 
. The setting, as the rising sun, 

With thee my heart would find. 

" With thee, in thee, by faith 
Abiding I would be ; 
By day, by night, in life, in death, 

I would be still with thee." — James Drummond Burns. 

133 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII.— Jesus' Conception of X\t disciple as a g>on of 
tfje 5>eaoenIp father 

Fifth Day : The Disciple in his Father's World 

i. One of the striking characteristics of Jesus, which He also evi- 
dently aimed to reproduce in the disciple, was such an appreciation of 
nature as is possible only to one who has found in God a real Father. 
There are some indications that it was Jesus' habit to climb to retired 
hilltops for prayer, and sometimes to spend the night there, e.g., Matt. 
14 : 23-25 ; Luke 9 : 28 (cf. vv. 32, 37). Very probably this in- 
dicates an appreciation of nature as an aid to communion with His 
Father, or at least as congenial to His prayerful mood. 

2. Many of His illustrations were drawn from nature. Examine 
the following passages, noting whatever in any of them indicates that 
Jesus connected God with the processes of nature alluded to : Matt. 
7:16; the double reference in Matt. 13:4; also 13 : 25, 31, 43 ; 
Mark 4 : 26-32 ; Luke 1 2 : 1 6, 1 8 ; 1 3 : 6 ; John 15:1. 

Read Matt. 6 : 26-30, noting that here He endeavors to make His 
disciples feel that their Father is at work in nature. Read also John 
5:17. Where has God been "working" ? 

3. The son of the Heavenly Father is able to regard all the 
manifold forms of life as his possession, in that they are the work of his 
Heavenly Father. Whatever be his theory of creation, he is able to 
see in them the product of his Heavenly Father's thought and the 
expression of his Heavenly Father's aesthetic sense. They speak to 
him, the son of their Creator, an inspiring message. 

" Oh, who is like the Mighty One, 

Whose throne is in the sky ! 
Who compasseth the universe 

With his all-searching eye ; 
At whose creative word appeared 

The dry land and the sea : 
My spirit thirsts for thee, O Lord, 

My spirit thirsts for thee ! 

" Yes ! Though unlimited his works, 

His power upholds them all ; 
He clothes the lilies of the field, 

And marks the sparrow's fall : 
Who listens to the raven's cry, 

Will bend his ear to me ; 
My spirit thirsts for thee, O Lord, 

My spirit thirsts for thee ! " 



David M. Moir. 



34 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XVIII. — %zm&' Conception of t&e EHsctple as a i&on of 
t&e peaoenlp jFatjjer 

Sixth Day : The Disciple Expecting his Father's 

Kingdom 

i. As was seen in Study III, Jesus conceived the Kingdom of 
God to be both a present reality and a future expectation. The respon- 
sibility of the disciple as a son of God in his Father's present Kingdom 
will be considered soon. It is in place here to recognize in general 
the significance of the fact that the Kingdom is his Father' s, and that, 
by virtue of its being his Father's, great expectations are warranted as 
he looks forward to its future developments. The details of this ex- 
pectation, so far as they are discoverable, will be considered in Part IV. 

As a general statement read Luke 12 : 32-34. The language de- 
scribes the situation of a man who has been promised something of such 
transcendent value that he straightway discards the lesser values, and 
prepares with all eagerness to possess the greater. 

The eager solicitude with which he concentrates attention and ex- 
pectation upon this anticipated good is further illustrated by a situation 
that appealed with particular force to the Oriental mind, namely, servants 
watching for their master's return from a marriage feast. Read care- 
fully vv. 35-38, compelling your imagination to reproduce the scene 
described. In vv. 39, 40, under another figure, the necessity for 
steadiness of expectation is enforced. 

2. In Matt. 25 : 34-40 the Kingdom is referred to as a future 
blessedness which they as the Father's children are to possess. This 
same experience is held before them by Jesus in Matt. 13 : 43. 

3. There is much in the teaching of Jesus regarding the present 
privileges and responsibilities of the sons of God, but there is also full 
recognition made of the strong instinct in human nature to anticipate, 
and of the consequent need of something to hope for. 



135 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XVIII. — %tmti Conception of \\t £Hariple as a H>on of 
X\t peabenlp jFatfjer 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week, determining in what sense Jesus con- 
ceived the disciple to be a son of God ; what He conceived to be God's 
feeling toward the disciple ; what kind of sons a Father like God ought 
to have ; with what consciousness a son of God ought to go about 
among men ; and what hopes he may cherish. 

" Father, I know that all my life 

Is portioned out for me ; 
The changes that will surely come 

I do not fear to see : 
I ask thee for a present mind, 

Intent on pleasing thee. 

(t I would not have the restless will 

That hurries to and fro, 
That seeks for some great thing to do, 

Or secret thing to know : 
I would be treated as a child, 

And guided where I go. 

" " I ask thee for the daily strength, 

To none that ask denied, 
A mind to blend with outward life, 

While keeping at thy side j 
Content to fill a little space, 

If thou be glorified. 

" And if some things I do not ask 
Among my blessings be, 
I'd have my spirit filled the more 

With grateful love to thee ; 
More careful — not to serve thee much, 
But please thee perfectly." 

Anna L. Waring. 



136 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX. — %z&x%* Conception of tit £)is;ciple in &is Kelation 
to tlje |)oIp Spirit 

First Day : The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus 

i. The teaching of Jesus regarding the Holy Spirit is properly- 
studied in connection with the discussion of the disciple, for the Holy 
Spirit is spoken of by Jesus almost always in connection with the life of 
the disciple. See for instance John 14:16, 17. Before the teaching 
of Jesus on this subject is considered, it is in place to take a brief pre- 
liminary survey of statements made in the Gospels regarding the con- 
nection of the Holy Spirit with the person and life of Jesus Himself. 

2. Consider first the Synoptic presentation. The Spirit first ap- 
pears in the description of the baptism of Jesus. Read Matt. 3:16. 
How did the authors of the Synoptic Gospels, or anyone else, know 
that this dove-form was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit ? Compare 
the representation made in John's Gospel 1 : 32, 33. Is there any 
way of ascertaining the effect of this experience upon the personality of 
Jesus ? Read Matt. 4 : 1 and compare the stronger expression in 
Mark 1:12. How was it known that the Spirit impelled Jesus to 
spend these six weeks in the wilderness ? 

There would seem to be but one source from which information re- 
garding the entire period described in Matt. 4: 1-11 could emanate. 
Perhaps Jesus talked with His disciples more freely than we have imag- 
ined regarding His own experiences. 

3. In Luke's Gospel the references to the Holy Spirit are more 
frequent than in the other two Synoptic Gospels. See in Luke 4:14 
Luke's peculiar description of Jesus as He entered Galilee, and note 
the first phrase of the passage, peculiar to Luke, in which Jesus de- 
scribes His sense of mission, Luke 4 : 17-21. 

Matt. 12 : 28 contains a suggestion of Jesus' thought about the con- 
nection of the Holy Spirit with His activity. A parallel passage in 
Luke 1 1 : 20 replaces the expression by another, and it is omitted in 
Mark 3 : 23-27, though really implied in w. 28-30. 

In another passage, peculiar to Luke, Jesus' exhilaration of spirit is 
attributed to the Holy Spirit. See Luke 10 : 21. 

4. In John's Gospel either the author or John the Baptist speaks of 
the Spirit's connection with the life of Jesus in 3 : 34. 

Make a statement which shall sum up, as well as possible, your con- 
ception of the relation of the Holy Spirit to the person and life of Jesus, 
so far as these passages indicate it. 

137 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus ana His Apostles 

Study XIX. — %tm€ Conception of X\t ^Disciple in &id Kelation 
to tlje J>oip Spirit 

Second Day : The Personality of the Holy Spirit 

i . The question that arises next is, Did Jesus conceive the Holy- 
Spirit to be a person ? The word " person " in this connection is of 
necessity somewhat vague, for even human personality, in the bodily 
form in which we see it, is as yet but very imperfectly defined. The 
vagueness increases when we enter the field of bodiless and divine per- 
sonality. That which is most certainly connoted by the word " per- 
son " in our experience of personality is the power to purpose, think, 
and love ; and it is comparatively easy to determine whether Jesus 
thought of the Holy Spirit as being in this sense a personal existence. 

See whether the functions ascribed by Jesus in various places to the 
Holy Spirit are those of personal existence ; of impersonal existence ; 
or whether the language used in certain cases might indicate either. If 
there be cases in which the personality of the Spirit is assumed, inquire 
whether the personality is distinguishable from that which Jesus desig- 
nates as the " Father.' ' 

2. Examine first the Synoptic Gospels, keeping in mind for the 
present only the point of personality as stated above. 

Consider first Luke 4:18, and then Matt. 12 ; 28. Note with 
particular care Matt. 12:31, 32. Consider whether the word 
"blaspheme" necessarily implies personality as its object, and whether 
the comparison of the Spirit with the personal Son of Man and the per- 
sonal Satan (vv. 24, 26, 32) implies the personality of the Spirit. 
Cf. Mark 3 : 29, 30. 

Consider the expression in Mark 13 : 11, but notice the parallel in 
Luke 21 114, 15 and a similar statement in Matt. 10 : 20. Is the 
f Spirit of" the Father " the same as the " Father " ? Notice carefully 
Luke 12 : 11, 12. Does Luke 11:13 throw any light on the point ? 

Some of the passages cited above are not decisive, but others seem 
explicitly to assert personality, as Luke 12 : 12, which alludes to the 
Spirit as "teaching," Note carefully the important passage, Matt. 
28 : 19, 20, in which the Holy Spirit evidently is not identical with 
the Father, and is clearly regarded as a person. 



138 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX.— ^estta' Conception of t&e disciple in W delation 
to tlje ft)oIj> Spirit 

Third Day : The Personality of the Holy Spirit 

(concluded) 

1. Examine to-day the teaching of Jesus regarding the personality of 
the Holy Spirit as it is recorded in the Gospel of John. Read again 
the first paragraph of yesterday's study, in order to get the problem 
freshly before you. 

The most explicit statements here, as upon other fundamental sub- 
jects already studied, are found in the record of Jesus' last few hours 
with His disciples. Read 14 : 16, 17, giving attention for the pres- 
ent simply to the question of personality. "Another" in addition to, 
or in place of, whom or what ? That is, Is the one whose place is 
taken or supplemented by the Holy Spirit a person ? Consider other 
evidences of personality in this statement. Read vv. 18-23, and con- 
sider whether Jesus thinks of the Holy Spirit as simply His own spiritual 
presence. What is the evidence in 14 : 26 regarding the personality 
of the Spirit? Read 15 .-"26, noting with special care its bearing 
upon the question of the identity of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual 
presence of Jesus or the Father. Are they the same ? See also 16:7. 
Notice the personal function described in 16:13, 14. 

2. It has become evident that in Jesus' mind the personality of the 
Holy Spirit is one of great dignity. Recall what is said of blasphemy 
against Him in Mark 3 : 28-30, and remember the combination of 
names in Matt. 28 : 19. Note also here in John, for instance 15 : 26, 
the sphere of existence in which Jesus represents Him to move. 

The metaphysical relationship existing between the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit, and the question of their combination into the 
unity we designate as God, are not discussed by Jesus here. These 
statements made by Him constitute a large part of the data on the basis 
of which theological thinkers have legitimately, but with only partial 
success, endeavored to construct a satisfactory theory. We can recog- 
nize the facts and wait patiently for their explanation. 

3 . The character of the personality of the Holy Spirit may be briefly 
noted in preparation for further study. Three words are used of Him : 
"Holy," "Truth," "Comforter" or "Helper," 14:16, 17, 
26. Reflect upon these words as indications of His personal character. 



139 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX. — Jefittg' Conception of t&e EHsciple in Us Eelatton 
to t&e (>oIp Spirit 

Fourth Day : The Disciple in Association with the 
Holy Spirit 

i . We have seen that to Jesus' mind discipleship involved a mutual 
sharing on the part of the Master and His disciple ; and that Jesus 
proposed, with a divine and startling generosity, to share what He had 
with the disciple (Study XVII, Fourth Day). It has been seen this 
week in the Study of the First Day, that the Holy Spirit was in some 
way associated with the personality of Jesus, and that to this association 
were attributed the manifestations of grace and power in the life of 
Jesus. It is not strange, therefore, that Jesus should be found propos- 
ing to admit His disciple also into this fellowship with the Holy Spirit. 

Note the evidence that it is Jesus to whom the disciple is indebted 
for this privilege. See John the Baptist's expectation, Matt. 3:11; 
and Jesus' agreement with it, John 15: 26; 16:7; 20:22. An- 
other representation is made in Luke 11 : 13, but the two are combined 
in Luke 24 : 49 ; John 14 : 16, 26. 

2. Since the Holy Spirit is a person, it necessarily follows that the 
disciple's connection with Him is in the form of personal association. 
What previous form of personal association does Jesus represent Him to 
be about to continue ? John 14 : 16, 25, 26 ; 16 : 12, 13. In view 
of these words what conception of the new relationship would the disci- 
ples naturally form ? 

In accordance with the laws of personal association certain results 
naturally follow intimate association between two persons. In general 
what will be the result, in the character of the disciple, of intimate as- 
sociation with a Personal Spirit who is "Holy," "True," and 
"Helpful" or "Kind" ? What is the meaning of each of these 
designations (John 14 : 26, 17, 16)? 

Notice particularly the word *« Comforter" or " Paraclete." The 
Greek word designates a person who is called to one's side to admon- 
ish, entreat, encourage, help ; especially a person who is called to one's 
side to plead his case in court. As an instance of His " helping," see 
Luke 12 : 11, 12. Consider to what extent Jesus had served this 
purpose in His personal association with the disciples. Cf. John 
17 : 12 ; Luke 22: 31, 32. 

Notice the permanence of the association, John 14 : 16 ; and con- 
sider the consequent possibility of character on the part of the disciple. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX.— Jesus' Conception of t&e disciple in W Relation 
to t&e ()oIp Spirit 

Fifth Day : The Holy Spirit Making Things Real to 
the Disciple 

i. The general result of association with the Holy Spirit in the 
moral character of the disciple has been considered. It remains to in- 
quire whether anything more specific can be learned with regard to the 
character of His intercourse with the disciple. 

Since the Holy Spirit is, as we have seen, to continue the work of 
Jesus in the disciple, it is not strange that He should be represented by 
Jesus as a teacher. See John 14 : 26. The chief function of a suc- 
cessful teacher is his ability to make things real to his pupils. It is in- 
teresting to see what emphasis Jesus laid on this form of the Spirit's 
activity. 

Read first the description of His activity in the undiscipled world, 
John 16 : 8-1 1. Men go comfortably on in lives of selfishness for 
years, but when the Spirit of God comes to them, their selfishness seems 
real to them and they are " convicted of sin." " Righteousness " be- 
comes real to them, and " judgment" becomes a present fact instead 
of a vague and meaningless word. Cf. John 3 : 5 as a statement of 
what follows in case they yield to this vivified truth. 

2. In His intercourse with the disciple He makes the teaching of 
Jesus seem real. Read John 14 : 26 ; 15 : 26. The thoughts of 
Jesus are not to be allowed to die out of the minds of men. The spirit 
of the disciple is to be kept susceptible to the personal influence of Jesus 
by the vivifying touch of the Spirit of God. 

3. The great Teaching Spirit will lead the minds of disciples into a 
real experience of new truth, and introduce the new order, John 1 6 : 
13. This will be a continuation of the work of Jesus, for the Spirit 
will draw from Jesus' infinite reserves of truth, vv. 14, 15. He also 
will listen to the Father, cf. v. 1 3 with John 8 : 26 ; 15:15. 

4. Our constant danger is that the phraseology of religion shall be 
found slipping readily from our lips, when there is but a meagre sense 
of an inner religious life. A man sometimes wakes up to the fact that 
he is using a phraseology that exceeds his personal experience ; finds his 
sense of honesty disturbed ; and relapses into silence. For such an 
one there is a possibility of a full, strong life in association with the 
true, holy, helpful Spirit of God that will spontaneously overflow into 
sincere expression upon proper occasion. 

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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX. — 3fe0t«' Conception of tlje ^Disciple in Iris Kelation 
to t&e |>olp Spirit 



Sixth Day : The Disciple Associated with the Holy 
Spirit in Witnessing 

i. Jesus represents the Holy Spirit as bearing testimony. Note 
the general subject of His testimony as stated in John I 5 : 26 ; 16:14. 
What is the substance of His testimony regarding Jesus ? To whom 
is it borne and how ? 

2. Out of his life of association with the Holy Spirit the disciple 
is also said to " bear witness." See John 1 5 : 27, considering the verb 
to be imperative as in the margin. 

Inasmuch as the whole work of the Spirit is represented as calculated 
to make Jesus a reality in the life of the disciple, it would seem to fol- 
low that the testimony of the disciple would relate to the real results 
in his own experience of the influence of Jesus. This seems to be the 
thought of John 15 : 26, 27. 

Note carefully the explicit statement made by Jesus in Acts 1:8. 
They are evidently called His witnesses because they are able out of 
their experience to testify regarding His influence upon them. This 
statement in Acts reveals Jesus' confidence that the Kingdom of God 
which He lived, died, and rose again to establish, could be brought to 
realization through the testimony of ordinary men and women living in 
personal association with the Holy Spirit. 

On one important occasion Jesus spoke of the personality of the dis- 
ciple as a source of life-giving influence for others, and is said to have 
spoken in this way because of the possibilities of a human personality 
in alliance with the Spirit of God. Read John 7 : 37-39. 

" What is the secret of this heroic movement, which, in view of the 
feebleness of its agents, the smallness of the number of its original ad- 
herents, the slenderness of their intellectual equipment, and the vast- 
ness of their pretensions, has only been saved from ridicule and oblivion 
by its astounding success ? Hear themselves. Are they asked for an 
explanation of their exuberant outburst at Pentecost ? It is because the 
Risen Lord has more than kept His promise (Acts 2 : 16-21, 33)." 
— Robert J. Drummond, The Relation of the Apostolic Teaching to 
the Teaching of Christ. 



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Studies in the Teaching of 'Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XIX. — %t&\ti Conception of tlje ^Disciple in bis Kelation 
to t&e J)oip Spirit 

Seventh Day: Review of the Week 

i . Review the evidence for the personality of the Spirit, and note 
His influence in the life of Jesus as an indication of His disposition and 
of the things He is interested in doing. Then see how this disposition 
manifests itself in what He does for and through the disciple. Review 
the relation of His work to that of Jesus. 

Consider one question that has not been raised during the week, 
namely, What are the conditions that must be met by the disciple who 
would deepen his acquaintance with this Personal Spirit ? What are 
the conditions of a deepening acquaintance with any good person ? 

2. The most significant and fundamental of the names applied by 
Jesus o the Holy Spirit is "Comforter," or "Helper." He is a 
great "Helper." His purpose is not to make life hard for the dis- 
ciple, but to help him up into larger life, deeper peace, greater power. 
This was the aim of Jesus, and it is because the Spirit carries out this 
great purpose of Jesus that Jesus spoke of Him as " another " Helper 
(John 14 : 16). 

It follows also from this conception that one who associates with the 
Holy Spirit will also be a powerful "helper" ; and that such was 
conspicuously the case in the first instances of association with Him is 
evident from the first chapters of Acts. Read for instance Acts 
4 : 32-35. Indeed, the motive lying behind the bearing of the testi- 
mony for which the Spirit's presence is an empowering, is the funda- 
mental desire in the heart of the disciple to help someone. He has 
found increasing life and peace in Jesus' discipleship, and now pro- 
poses to help others into the same experience. 



143 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX. — %tm&* Cntuepttoit of tlje ^Disciple in Ins Eelatioa 
to Iris JFeiloto disciples 

First Day : The Disciple a Fellow Disciple 

i . In Jesus' thought the disciple is never an isolated phenomenon. 
Neither is his relation to God, in whatever form God be conceived, 
regarded as his sole relationship. He is always thought of in relation 
to other men. If it be true, as was suggested in Study XVI, Fifth 
Day, that life consists of loving personal relationships, friendships, then 
the most favorable sphere in which to develop life is evidently a com- 
munity. 

2. Jesus' emphasis of this fact appears in the assumptions underlying 
all His teachings, as well as in His explicit statements. Repeat to 
yourself the Lord's Prayer or, as it might perhaps better be called, the 
Disciples' Prayer, and notice that it is supposed to arise from a group 
of disciples. Observe the personal pronouns " our," " us," "we"; 
and any other recognition found in it of mutual human relationship. 

Jesus' characteristic word " Kingdom " assumes what in this con- 
nection ? Note the word that occurs only three times in the Gospels, 
Matt. 16:18; 18:17. Jesus' fundamental idea of God's Fatherhood 
assumes the existence of a family. Religion is represented by Him as 
fundamentally a " neighborhood " matter, Matt. 22:39; an< ^* m 
the nature of the case, this neighborhood idea reaches its most perfect 
realization among the disciples. 

3. The things that bind men most closely together are to have in 
common an intimate friend ; to share deliverance from a great common 
peril ; to share a great common hope ; and to share a great common 
work. Consider to what extent, and how, these conditions of close 
personal relationship are realized in the case of the disciple. Among 
other representations of Jesus on this subject, consider these : Matt. 
23 : 8-10 ; 24 : 9-13, 29-31 ; Luke 12 : 32-34 ; 22 : 28-30 ; John 
16 : 33. See how they are combined in John 15 : 15-27. Notice 
also carefully the relation of the personality of Jesus to each of the things 
specified above as calculated to bind men strongly together. 

4. One purpose of the Christian Church is to keep disciples in close 
touch with each other, and make them conscious of each other. Its 
institutions emphasize their common deliverance, common friend, com- 
mon hope, and common work. 



144 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX.— ^esttfii' Conception of X\t £)iactple in W delation 
to bis jFeiloto 3Discipies 

Second Day: The Disciples Loving Each Other 

i . When Jesus was about to leave the world, instead of giving to 
His disciples "practical " directions regarding forms of organization 
and methods of procedure, He specified something which may have 
seemed to the apostles at the time absurdly simple, but which seemed 
to Him to constitute the fundamental and essential characteristic of 
discipleship. Read John 13:3 4, 35; 15:12. The disciples of 
Jesus, everywhere in the world, were to be recognized as specialists in 
friendship. " They love each other without knowing each other," the 
pagans said in amazement of the early Christians. The really funda- 
mental character of this simple requirement becomes more evident, when 
we remember Jesus' conception of life brought out in Study XVI, Fifth 
Day, namely, that living consists in loving. Furthermore, Jesus wished 
to reproduce in the world the vital relationships that exist in heaven. 
Note in John 17 : 21-23 what He conceived to be the essential element 
in these. In sharp contrast, see the characteristics of life in hell as 
they appeared to Jesus in the character of a man who cherished either 
anger or contempt for a brother, Matt. 5 : 22. Give particular atten- 
tion to all the details of the altar scene, Matt. 5 : 23, 24. Picture the 
priest waiting at the altar, and the would-be worshipper going back into 
the city to find his injured brother. The thought is that it is impossible 
to be a disciple, or worshipper, unless one loves his fellow disciple. 

2. In practical experience love reveals itself negatively in an un- 
willingness to criticise a fellow disciple unnecessarily, and positively in 
a disposition to rejoice in his success. To get Jesus' view of the fun- 
damental importance of the former point, read Matt. 7 : 1-5. Partic- 
ularly in the case of men who are being trained in processes of analysis 
and discrimination, and who are of necessity engaged in competition, 
the practical test of love oftentimes is made in their attitude toward a 
fellow disciple's faults and successes. To rejoice heartily in other men's 
successes and to deal in patient, faithful kindness with their little faults, 
is to succeed in loving them. 

Note in John 1 5 : 1 2 the standard which Jesus sets up for the dis- 
ciple. The fundamental idea in these words seems to be that the dis- 
ciple, in order to be a disciple, must agree with bis Lord. He must 
feel about his fellow disciple's faults and successes as Jesus does. 

145 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX. — %t&x€ Conception of tlje iDisciple in Ins Eelation 
to \>i& jFelioto EHscipIes 

Third Day : The Disciples Forgiving Each Other 

i . In the close personal relationship which is the essential condition 
of real life, there is incidentally involved abundant opportunity for mis- 
understanding and bitterness. It is significant that more is said by 
Jesus about forgiveness than about almost any other topic connected 
with the mutual relations of disciples. 

2. The most extensive discussion of the subject is found in Matt. 
1 8 121-35. Read the paragraph carefully, noting that a large part of 
the force of the illustration consists in the comparative amounts of the 
two debts. Roughly estimated the debts seem to have been some- 
thing like $12,000,000 and $17. Exactly what phase of life in the 
Kingdom of Heaven (v. 23) is the story intended to illustrate? 

3. Before going further into the discussion, stop to consider what 
forgiveness really is. Make the best definition you can. Is it possible 
to forgive a person who has not repented ? See Luke 17:3. How 
ought one to feel toward one who has done him an injury and is not 
sorry for it ? In what respect, if at all, is his feeling changed when 
the offender becomes sorry for the offence ? Examine the subject from 
the standpoint of one who has experienced God's forgiveness. How 
does God feel toward a man who is not sorry for his wrong-doing ? 
Does God's feeling toward the man change when the man does become 
sorry for his wrong-doing ? If so, what is the nature of the change ? 



146 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX. — %jt8U8* Conception of t&e ^Disciple in Ins Eelation 
to Iris jFeiloto disciples 

Fourth Day : The Disciples Forgiving Each Other 
(concluded) 

i. It may be said that the essence of forgiveness is approving love. 
Jesus strongly insisted that, in imitation of God, a man should love his 
enemies (Matt. 5 : 43-48) ; but in the case of both God and man 
such love is necessarily a disapproving love. When the "enemy" 
has repented of, and put away, his enmity, he is met with a hearty 
approving love which is forgiveness. The forgiveness is to be hearty 
like God's. See the last clause in Matt. 18 : 35. God is said to 
fling our sins far out into the sea where none may dredge them up 
(Micah 7 : 19). He does not "remember" our sins (Isa. 43 : 25). 
He is not one who " forgives but does not forget." The old father, 
running, falling on his son's neck, and " kissing him much" (Luke 
1 5 : 20, margin), represents Jesus' conception of the heartiness of God's 
forgiveness. 

2. Note the two motives for forgiving a fellow disciple to which 
Jesus appealed in Matt. 18 : 32-35. 

Jesus' teaching is that the failure to forgive involves the ruin of the 
unforgiving personality, and that, not because of any arbitrary act of 
God, but in the nature of the case. See another statement of the con- 
sequence of refusing to forgive, Matt. 6 : 14, 15. The reason for 
this is evident. To forgive is to feel approving love and, in the nature 
of the case, God cannot feel approving love of a man who has an un- 
forgiving spirit. Furthermore, the essence of the original offence was 
an unloving spirit. If now the offended party refuses to feel approving 
love for the penitent offender, he is guilty of the same unloving spirit 
that constituted the original offence. 

Note in the first clause of Mark 11:25 another statement of the 
consequence of refusing to forgive. Imagine a man lifting one hand in 
prayer to God the Father of love, calling upon Him for mercy, while 
his other hand tightens its unmerciful grip on his brother's throat 
(Matt. 18 : 28). There is no such thing as a heart that is loving on 
its heavenly side, and at the same time hating on its earthly side. 

It is impossible for the unforgiving man to present the gospel to any- 
one, for the essence of the gospel is that a penitent man will be for- 
given, and his conduct gives the lie to his message. 

He cannot have any vital connection with the Church. The Church 

147 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



is called the body of Christ. It is in a sense an incarnation of God. 
It must, therefore, most of all be an incarnation of God's forgiving 
spirit. God's advertisement to the world is this : " Here in my 
Church is a body of men and women who can be relied upon to for- 
give those who sin against them." 

The man who will not forgive, therefore, is fundamentally and 
ruinously out of agreement with God. God has forgiven the penitent 
offender, and he has not. He is like the elder brother, fundamentally 
out of agreement with his father. Read once more Luke 15 : 26-32. 
The Father and all heaven rejoice over the offender's penitence (Luke 
15 : 7), but the unforgiving man does not. Ultimately it will have to 
be said of him in his relation to heaven, as was said of the elder brother 
in the parable, " He was angry and would not go in " (Luke 15 : 28). 

3. Peter thought of forgiveness as confined to a limited number of 
specific acts. Jesus thought of it as a habit of life. See the evidence 
of this in Matt. 18 : 21, 22. 

The unforgiving man is also in danger of forming the unforgiving habit. 
A " root of bitterness " (Heb. 12 : 15) may fasten itself eternally into 
his heart, and habitually sap his soul's strength. It is a good thing for 
a man to ask himself whether he would like to be forever of the disposi- 
tion that is his now. It is only when the bitterness has been put away 
that his heart becomes productive of the peaceable fruits of righteous- 
ness ; his dumb lips speak again in prayer ; his feet go on glad errands 
of evangelism ; and he stands with the Father sharing the Father's 
"welcome home " for every penitent brother. 

" Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, 
be put away from you, with all malice : and be ye kind one to another, 
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave 
you. Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children ; and walk 
in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us." 

St Paul, Epistle to the Ephesians. 



148 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XX.— Jesus' Conception of t&e disciple in W Kelation 
to fcte jFelloto £Hgtipleg 

Fifth Day : The Disciple Rebuking his Fellow Dis- 
ciple 

1 . Since forgiveness is approving love, it follows that there can be 
no forgiveness without repentance. The duty of forgiving involves 
also the duty of doing what can be done to make forgiveness possible, 
that is, doing what can be done to secure the offender's repentance. 
Jesus specifies one means that may be employed to induce this repent- 
ance. Read Luke 17 .-3. Notice the impressive words with which 
Jesus prefaces this statement. They constitute a danger signal, indi- 
cating that here is a perilous point in human life. 

Experience shows that many comparatively slight discourtesies and 
expressions of ill-will are only transient, and will disappear if ignored 
and met with steady good-nature. The direction of Jesus seems in- 
tended for more serious situations. In these more serious cases the 
offender must not be left " severely alone," nor his offence good- 
naturedly overlooked, but he must be made sensible of his offence. 
This must be accomplished in such a way as will tend to make him 
sorry for his offence. To accomplish this requires grace and tact of a 
high order. The motive for the rebuke is not to vindicate the offended 
or to humiliate the offender, but simply to make the offender feel sorry 
for what he has done. It is not my grievance but his danger that is 
to be my final concern. 

2. With this view of the case, read Matt. 18 : 15-17. Note that 
the direction is to go alone. What is the reason for this direction ? 
Why take two or three others if the first interview fails ? Note in 
the last clause of v. 15 how effectively the actuating motive and spirit 
of the visit are stated. He is not to look back upon the interview as 
one in which he was sternly called to account. It is to be among the 
tender and pleasant memories of his life. 

As a last resort the influence of the whole brotherhood is to be 
brought to bear upon him, and if he does not yield to this, there is 
nothing to do but to leave him in his sins. In view of Jesus' treat- 
ment of Gentiles and publicans what does the last clause of v. 17 
seem to indicate ? 



149 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX.— testis' Conception of tlje Disciple in Iris Eelation 
to I)te jFelloto Disciples 

Sixth Day : The Disciples Serving Each Other 

i . It has become evident that the idea of a brotherhood of disciples 
was fundamental in the thought of Jesus. One further phase of the 
mutual relation of disciples remains to be examined. It is stated in 
Matt. 20 : 26, 27. Read carefully the entire context, vv. 20-28. 

2. Exactly what did Jesus mean by this language ? To what ex- 
tent is it feasible to be " the bond servant " of one's fellow disciples ? 
To do things for a person that he can and ought to do for himself is 
certainly no real kindness to him. 

We may regard Jesus as describing here the spirit He desires to see 
in the disciple. Can you describe the spirit any more specifically, and 
can you state any principle that may safely be followed in the effort to 
give expression to this spirit ? Is there anything in the example of 
Jesus (Matt. 20 : 28) to help you at this point ? 

3. On one occasion Jesus gave an illustration of His injunction that 
must have profoundly impressed the disciples. Read John 13 : 1-1 1. 

Jesus' conception of *' Christian service " was more fundamental 
and simple than that which is sometimes popularly designated by the 
the expression. It is not necessarily to serve on a committee or to do 
some piece of " Christian work " technically so-called. The disciple 
holds himself ready to do any one of the numberless services that may 
contribute to the welfare of others in the ordinary intercourse of daily 
life. They may sometimes be the very acts that would ordinarily be 
performed by a servant. He goes about all his work with the spirit 
of a servant. Service is to be distinguished from servility. The mo- 
tive for the former is love ; for the latter, a desire for pay of some 
sort. Notice the introductory words in John 13:1, and notice also 
that service of this sort is compatible with, or essentially suited to, 
great dignity of position. Read the wonderful prelude in vv. 3, 4. 
Consider in what respects it makes one "great" (Matt. 20 : 26) to 
serve. 

4. Perhaps one puts the test to himself as a disciple by inquiring 
whether he increasingly enjoys doing a favor for anyone who needs it. 

" That best portion of a good man's life, 
His little, nameless, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love." 

Wordsworth, Lines written near Tintern Abbey. 

I<0 






Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XX.— %t%y&' Conception of t&e iDiecipie in \\& Eelatton 
to Ins jFelloto ^Disciples 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Sum up what has been discovered to be Jesus' conception of the re- 
lation of the disciple to his fellow disciple ; the connection of this rela- 
tionship with the development of his own personal life ; the bearing of 
it upon his relation to God ; the practical expression of his kindly feel- 
ing for his fellow disciples that may wisely be made. 

Of course, as will be seen later, Jesus did not propose to have the 
disciple's love limited to the sphere of his fellow disciples, but of ne- 
cessity it has there the best opportunity for development, and unless 
developed there it will fail to manifest itself under less favorable con- 
ditions. 

" Poor vaunt of life indeed, 
Were man but formed to feed 
On joy, to solely seek and find and feast ; 
Such feasting ended, then 
As sure an end to me 5 
Irks care the crop-full bird ? Frets doubt the maw-crammed beast ? 

" Rejoice we are allied 

To That which doth provide 

And not partake, effect and not receive ! 

A spark disturbs our clod j 

Nearer we hold of God 

Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe." 

Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezra. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXl.—^tmtf Conception of t|je ^Disciple as a ^Han of 
JJraper 

First Day : The Praying of Jesus 

i. It has been seen that the animus of Jesus' life was to share what 
He had with His disciples, to bring the disciples as far as possible to 
share His own experience. It is necessary, therefore, in preparation 
for the consideration of this new theme, to see what prayer meant to 
Jesus personally. 

2. Notice briefly to-day the circumstances under which Jesus is rep- 
resented to have prayed. Luke mentions at least six instances of Jesus' 
prayers not found in other Gospels. One of them is 3 : 21 . In view 
of Jesus' situation here, what do you suppose Him to have been pray- 
ing about ? 

See Mark 1:35. Picture the scene in imagination. What was 
probably the substance of His prayer here ? Consider His experience 
on the evening before (vv. 32-34), and the work upon which He was 
about to enter (vv. 38, 39). 

Read Luke 5 : 16 and its preceding context, vv. 12-15. The 
Greek verbs in vv. 15, 16 may be regarded grammatically as describ- 
ing something that occurred repeatedly. Try here in imagination to 
reproduce the situation, and inquire what Jesus prayed about. If 
"but" be the proper translation, v. 16, what does it indicate as to 
the connection of the action described in v. 16 with what is described 
in the preceding verses ? 

Read Luke 6:12, and note in its context vv. 13-19. Of what 
special importance was the step to be taken next day ? What do you 
suppose to have been the substance of this prayer, hour after hour dur- 
ing the night time ? Was He making up His mind whom to choose ? 
Was He looking into the future careers of those whom He would 
choose? Were the crowds at the foot of the hill (vv. 17-19) in His 
thought ? Look at the preceding context, vv. 6-1 1. 



152 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXI. — Starts* Conception of X\z IDutttpIe as a i$tan of 

JJtaper 

Second Day : The Praying of Jesus (concluded) 

1. Read Mark 6:46, and its context, vv. 30—52. There is a 
hint of urgency in the use of the word " constrained " (v. 45), some 
explanation of which is afforded by the parallel account in John 6:5- 
15. In view of all the circumstances, what did Jesus probably pray 
about through the hours of this windy (v. 18) night on the hilltop ? 

Another crisis of a different sort appears in Luke 9 : 18-27. Ac- 
cording to the account in Mark 8 : 27, Jesus had left Galilee, and was 
apparently devoting Himself to the private instruction of His disciples, 
though by no means out of connection with others (Mark 8 : 34). 
Consider what prayer meant to Jesus in this crisis. 

Notice also that, according to Luke's account, 9 : 28, 29, Jesus 
was praying on the mountain during the night of the transfiguration. 
Read the paragraph, vv. 28-36, looking for suggestions as to what 
Jesus was praying about. 

2. Jesus sometimes prayed in the presence of His disciples, John 
17 : 1. Perhaps he often withdrew to some place a short distance 
from them as He did in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22 : 39-41. 
Note what is implied in Luke 1 1 : 1 as to His habit of prayer. 

3 . The Gospel of John affords a striking picture of Jesus at prayer. 
Read 1 1 : 41-44. What does this language indicate as to Jesus' pre- 
vious prayer for Lazarus? Cf. vv. 11 -15. Note in v. 42 the evi- 
dence of a habit of prayer, and also the confidence that Jesus' friends 
seem to have felt in the efficacy of all His prayers, vv. 21, 22. 

4. The most impressive view of Jesus at prayer is, of course, His 
mysterious experience in the garden of Gethsemane. Read the account 
in Mark 14 : 32-42. It is not necessary to ask again, as in Part I, 
what is here prayed for. It is sufficient to see that in this hour of pro- 
found need His resource was prayer to His Father. We shall have 
occasion later to consider what is to be learned from the prayers of 
Jesus regarding proper objects of prayer. Note now any other things 
that are suggested to you by the prayers of Jesus already considered. 



153 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXI. — Jefittfi' Conception of t&e ^Disciple as a JJtan of 

fkaper 

Third Day : The Disciple Praying to his Heavenly 

Father 

i . We have seen how real to Jesus was His intercourse in prayer 
with His Father, and how large a place it occupied day and night in 
His life. From what we have already seen of Jesus* general desire to 
share with His disciples, we should expect to find Him endeavoring to 
share this experience also with them. 

Read Matt. 7 17-11, considering Jesus here to be endeavoring to 
induce the disciple to reproduce His own experience. Imagine Him 
to have spoken v. 7 with emphasis on the personal pronouns. Read 
also Matt. 6:6-8. 

Notice in both these passages what the underlying basis of prayer is, 
namely, the fact that God is our Father. This is the great fundamental 
assumption with which Jesus began His theory and practice of prayer, 
an assumption firmly grounded in His own personal consciousness. 

2. Prayer then includes all of our intercourse with our Heavenly 
Father. We bring all hopes and fears to Him, as children to a father, 
knowing that we do not speak them out into the empty air, but to an 
interested person, to a person who finds them interesting because it is 
His children that bring them to Him. The aim of Jesus, as we have 
seen, was to gather His disciples up into a share of His own close 
relationship to His Father ; and the language, often unspoken, of this 
relationship is prayer. 

3. Although prayer, broadly conceived, covers all the going out of 
one's thought to God, notice the restricted sense in which Jesus often 
refers to it. Read again Matt. 7:7-11; and then read Matt. 18:19; 
21 :22 ; John 15:7. Jesus conceives of something coming back from 
God to the praying disciple. His Father acts in response to His child's 
appeal, and does things that would not otherwise be done. 

" O heart I made, a heart beats here ! " 

This is an assumption that almost startles one ; but it is a natural and 
necessary inference from Jesus' great conception, basal to His whole 
system of thought and theory of life, that God is a Fatherly Person. 
Read again Matt. 7 : 7-1 1. 

" Speak to Him thou for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet- 
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.** 

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Study XXI. — Jesus' Conception of X\t iDtsetpIe as a JHan of 

Jkaper 

Fourth Day : The Disciple Praying to his Heavenly 
Father (continued) 

i. Consider the relation of Jesus' prayer-hearing Father to the 
forces of nature. Do they so bar Him back that He cannot get to 
His praying child in need, or can at most only stand by in helpless 
sympathy ? Notice Jesus' conception of the relation of God to nat- 
ure in Matt. 5 : 45 ; 6 : 26, 28-30 ; 21 : 18-22. 

The fixity of the laws of nature is certainly a great blessing. Sup- 
pose that a disciple of Jesus could at any moment through prayer sus- 
pend the law of gravity or make the sun set. Such power in prayer, 
granted to men in the present stage of their development, would 
change civilization into chaos. In every successful family there are 
certain things the children, especially the younger ones, know it would 
be useless to ask for. 

2. At the same time it is being demonstrated every year that the 
better a father understands the forces of nature and the laws of their 
action, the more effectively he can through them grant the requests of 
his children. He can manufacture ice for them in the midst of the 
summer heat. Science is steadily demonstrating that the forces of nat- 
ure are, to a certain extent, the means by the use of which the 
Heavenly Father can respond to His children's appeal. 

3. Consider, however, that almost all of the petitions a disciple 
ever has occasion to make to his Father can be answered without 
recourse to the so-called laws of nature, if God has power to put a 
thought into the mind of man. Suppose that the disciple wants work 
or money. If his Father has power to put an appropriate suggestion 
into his mind, or into some other man's mind, or into the minds of 
both, the prayer can be answered. And this can be done by means 
of, and not in spite of, the laws of mental action. We are able to put 
thoughts into each other's minds by means of words, and science 
seems to be surely demonstrating the fact that there are other ways of 
doing it. Jesus simply assumes that God has so made the human 
mind that it is capable of an interchange of thought with Himself, its 
Heavenly Father. 

At this point recall Jesus' conception of the relation of the Holy 
Spirit to the human spirit, presented in Study XIX. Read again, in 
the light of this thought, Luke 12:11; John 16 : 13. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

4. Consider incidentally the career, as an unconscious answerer of 
prayer, open to a disciple living in association with the Holy Spirit. 

" More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of." 

Consider also the place of prayer in the life and work of a person 
engaged in scientific research. 

" Said the Master to the youth : 
* We have come in search of truth, 
Trying with uncertain key 
Door by door of mystery; 
We are reaching, through His laws, 
To the garment-hem of Cause, 
Him, the endless, unbegun, 
The Unnamable, the One 
Light of all our light the Source, 
Life of life, and Force of force. 
As with fingers of the blind, 
We are groping here to find 
What the hieroglyphics mean 
Of the Unseen in the seen, 
What the Thought which underlies 
Nature's masking and disguise, 
What it is that hides beneath 
Blight and bloom and birth and death. 
By past efforts unavailing, 
Doubt and error, loss and failing, 
Of our weakness made aware, 
On the threshold of our task 
Let us light and guidance ask, 
Let us pause in silent prayer ! ' 

" Then the Master in his place 
Bowed his head a little space, 
And the leaves by soft airs stirred, 
Lapse of wave and cry of bird 
Left the solemn hush unbroken 
Of that wordless prayer unspoken, 
While its wish, on earth unsaid, 
Rose to heaven interpreted." 

Whittier, The Prayer of Agassiz. 



I 5 6 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXI. — Jesus' Conception of t&e ^Disciple as a JHan of 

JJtapet 

Fifth Day : The Disciple Praying to his Heavenly 
Father (concluded) 

i. Read again Jesus' great call to prayer, Matt. 7:7-11. It is 
sometimes said that expectant appeal to the Heavenly Father for the 
granting of definite petitions is useless, because, if the things asked for 
are to happen, they will happen regardless of prayer. The practical 
invalidity of the objection becomes evident when it is realized that, if it 
were true, it would be useless to ask any person for anything. If the 
occurrence of the thing you ask your friend to do is in God's plan, it 
will happen whether you ask or not. Therefore it is futile to ask him 
to do you the favor. No one acts in accordance with such a theory. 
On the contrary, we act almost every hour of the day on the principle 
that it is of use for persons to ask each other for things. Modern 
civilization, as it becomes more complex, is increasingly becoming a 
vast system of askings and receivings. Jesus' fundamental position is 
that God is a Person, a personal Father, and that this great principle is 
operative in intercourse with Him just as in all other personal inter- 
course. Read Jesus' effective illustration of this thought in Luke 
11 : 5-10. Read also Matt. 7:8. 

2. It is some times said that since God knows what is for our good 
and is kindly disposed, He will give us good things without our 
asking. But well-disposed parents often wait until their children care 
enough about things of value to ask for them before giving them. 
Furthermore, it seems to be God's policy to do things in such a way 
as to give to His children the largest feasible share in the achievement. 
He is ambitious for His children, and seems to propose to develop 
them by giving them a large and responsible share in His achievements. 

Read Jesus' words in John 14 : 12. An illustration of this princi- 
ple is His plan for the evangelization of the world through His chil- 
dren. Real prayer, prayer that engages the whole being and is more 
than the mere utterance of words, is an output of spiritual force that 
constitutes taking a share in God's achievements. It is, therefore, 
wholly natural that He should wait for men to share in prayer His 
great achievements before carrying them on to completion. 

In every well-regulated family many things are done for the chil- 
dren without their asking ; other things are refused when asked for ; 
but some things are done only when and because they are asked for. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXI. — %zm& i Conception of t&e Disciple as a JHan of 

|3raper 

Sixth Day : The Father's Enjoyment in Answering 
the Disciple's Prayer 

i . Prayer, as viewed by Jesus from the standpoint of the Father- 
hood of God, has been seen to be an intellectually defensible proceed- 
ing as well as an instinctive cry of the heart. There is need to 
emphasize one truth that is involved in this recognition of the Father- 
hood of God, and that is that God enjoys answering prayer. A 
father knows no greater joy than that which results from giving good 
things to his children. We sometimes have a feeling that there is a 
degree of disinclination on the part of God, which can be overcome 
only by persistent and strenuous appeal, or which is to be overcome 
through the intervention of Jesus. Read still again Matt. 7:7-11. 
Notice the "how much more" (v. 11). See also John 16:26, 27. 

2. There are, however, in Luke's Gospel certain statements that 
seem, at first reading, to represent God as disinclined to grant what is 
asked of Him. Read 18 : 1-8. What is the point of this illustra- 
tion? Does it represent God as like the weary judge ? Notice the 
three expressions in vv. 7, 8 that indicate God's attitude toward those 
who are praying to Him. Yet evidently v. 1 indicates that it is a per- 
sistent praying to which Jesus here urges His disciples, although the 
reason for the persistence is clearly not the need of overcoming any 
disinclination or lack of interest on God's part. The situation of those 
who are praying is represented as peculiar. They are in danger of 
"fainting" (v. 1), and are in need of being " avenged" (v. 7). 
It is an exhortation then to those who are suffering persecution. 
They are urged not to cease calling upon God, but to be sure that 
He loves them and will come to their relief as "speedily " (v. 8) 
as He wisely can. 

Read again Luke 11:5-13. In vv. 5-8 there is the account of a 
man who was trying to get something for his friend. Does Jesus here 
represent God to be like the sleepy neighbor (vv. 9-12) ? Is the 
man more deeply interested in his " friend " than God is ? 

3. When answer to prayer is delayed it is always for some other 
reason than that God is unwilling to do a good thing for His children. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXI.— Jesus' Conception of tje EHacipie as a Jftan of 

JJraper 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week, gathering up everything that has been 
discovered regarding Jesus' conception of prayer. What did prayer 
mean to Jesus in His own experience ? What does Jesus represent to 
be the value of prayer to the disciple ? What is the attitude of God 
toward a praying disciple ? 

The conditions to be met by a disciple in order to pray as his Father 
would like to see him pray, and the objects for which a disciple should 
pray, will be considered next week. 

"In the mind of God, we may be assured, the conception of 
prayer is no fiction, whatever man may think of it. 

" It has, and God has determined that it should have, a positive and 
an appreciable influence in directing the course of a human life. It is, 
and God has purposed that it should be, a link of connection between 
human mind and Divine mind, by which, through His infinite conde- 
scension, we may actually move His will. It is, and God has decreed 
that it should be, a power in the universe, as distinct, as real, as nat- 
ural, and as uniform, as the power of gravitation, or of light, or of 
electricity. A man may use it, as trustingly and as soberly as he would 
use either of these. It is as truly the dictate of good sense, that a man 
should expect to achieve something by praying, as it is that he should 
expect to achieve something by a telescope, or the mariner's compass, 
or the electric telegraph. 

'* This intense practicalness characterizes the scriptural ideal of 
prayer. The Scriptures make it a reality, and not a reverie. They 
never bury it in the notion of a poetic or philosophic contemplation of 
God. They do not merge it in the mental fiction of prayer in any 
other action or all other action or duties in life. They have not con- 
cealed the fact of prayer beneath the mystery of prayer. The scrip- 
tural utterances on the subject of prayer admit of no such reduction of 
tone, and confusion of sense, as men often put forth in imitating them. 
Up, on the level of inspired thought, prayer is PRAYER — a distinct, 
unique, elemental power in the spiritual universe, as pervasive and as 
constant as the great occult powers of Nature." 

Austin Phelps, The Still Hour. 



J 59 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXII.— %tm€ Conception of tfce SDteciple as a Jftan of 

JJtaper 

( Continued ) 

First Day : Jesus' Sharing the Disciple's Prayer 

i. Jesus' statements regarding God's willingness to answer prayer 
are startlingly broad ; but a close inspection of them shows that there 
are always conditions attached. God does not unqualifiedly put Him- 
self at every man's beck and call ; nor does He make gods of men. 

The most fundamental and comprehensive statement of conditions is 
found in John's Gospel. Read 15:7. What is meant by " abide in 
me"? " Abide " conveys the idea of steady residence, and such 
residence, when two personalities are concerned, involves entire agree- 
ment. Christ constitutes the man's environment ; and there is entire 
adaptation to the environment. 

What is it for His "words" to "abide in" the disciple? A 
word is an expression of a thought, a message from a mind. What 
then is it for the messages of Jesus to be received and kept in the mind 
of a disciple ? 

2. Notice another way of wording the condition in John 14:13,14; 
16 : 26. In Hebrew usage the name stands for the personality. To 
ask «« in His name " is not to append the phrase to the prayer, but to 
be in the close, vital connection with the personality of Jesus described 
in 15 : 7. 

That is, the disciple who has this promise made to him is one who 
is so intimately associated with his Lord that he shares his Lord's pur- 
poses and spirit ; and his Lord shares the disciple"* s prayer. The 
Great Pray-er (See Study XXI, First and Second Days) unites with 
His disciple in a partnership of prayer. See how this thought seems to 
underlie the remarkable statement in Matt. 18: 19, 20, particularly 
the last clause of v. 20. It is the presence of the Great Pray-er in the 
midst of the group so lovingly disposed toward each other as to be 
thoroughly in harmony with Him, that makes the prayer effective. 

3. The word "abide" implies that effective prayer springs out of 
a certain kind of life. The condition is not one that can be met for a 
few moments of prayer and then refused. 

While our acquaintance with Jesus is deepening we lay all our hopes, 
fears, and desires in simplicity before our Father, even though we are 
not sure that they are yet such as can be shared by Jesus to the extent 
implied in these chapters of John's Gospel. 

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Study XXII.— ^Jesus' Conception of t&e SDififripIe as a Jltan of 

Jkaper 

( Continued') 

Second Day : The Disciple Praying in Sympathy with 

his Lord 

1. It remains to determine whether more specific statements are 
made by Jesus of what is involved in the general condition of effective 
prayer discovered yesterday in John 15:7. 

It goes without saying that this condition of fellowship with Jesus 
involves the readiness of the disciple to do whatever his Lord will have 
him do ; and also to have, or not to have, the thing prayed for, ac- 
cording as his Lord may prefer. A man who is persistent in what he 
knows he ought not to do, or in a preference that his Lord cannot 
share, cannot have the fellowship with his Lord out of which effec- 
tive prayer springs. 

2. Note in Matt. 6:33 and its context another specification. 
Jesus' fundamental ambition is to establish the civilization of the King- 
dom of Heaven upon the earth. The disciple who would live in in- 
timate fellowship with Him, must, in the nature of the case, share this 
supreme ambition. If Jesus is to share his prayer it must be a prayer 
for something related to the Kingdom of God. It may be for educa- 
tion, or work, or success in business, but for these things as a means 
toward increased efficiency in the establishment of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

This eliminates all purely selfish prayer. The righteousness of the 
Kingdom (Matt. 6 133), on its manward side, consists in brotherli- 
ness, which is the opposite of selfishness. Jesus could not share prayer 
offered in a spirit of indifference to His other disciples, the other chil- 
dren in the family of the Father. 

3 . Read the condition in Mark 11:25. It is of course true that 
Jesus could not be in fellowship with one who has an unforgiving 
spirit. He could not share a grudge, and so could be no partner in 
the prayer of the unforgiving man. 

4. Read also Mark 1 1 : 24. This can scarcely mean that a per- 
son shall strain himself to believe without evidence that God has 
already decided to give him the thing he has just asked for. Such 
assurance, it would seem, could only be attained as the result of some 
inward intimation from his great Associate in prayer. It does imply 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



a very vivid 
hear and am 



sense of the presence of God and of His alertness to 
wer prayer. It is the very opposite of the spirit that 



asks for things thoughtlessly, in conventional prayer-meeting language, 
without any idea that they will ever be granted ; or for things that the 
pray-er would not be willing to receive if they should be given him. 

5. That which perhaps most frequently prevents our prayers from 
being such as can be shared by Jesus, is their selfishness. The Holy 
Spirit is sometimes prayed for because His presence is thought to be 
essential to the pre-eminence we desire in Christian work. We 
think only of ourselves in this prayer, and do not equally desire His 
presence in the lives of those associated with us in our work. The 
prayer which Jesus shares, whatever be the thing prayed for, must be 
one that takes others into account. Indeed, God seems to try to com- 
pel us to take account of others by knitting our lives so closely to- 
gether with theirs that oftentimes we cannot get from God what we 
want for ourselves except as it comes from Him through others. 

" A tourist, in climbing an Alpine summit, finds himself tied by a 
strong rope to his trusty guide, and to three of his fellow-tourists. As 
they skirt a perilous precipice, and he seeks God's protection along 
that dizzy height, he cannot pray confidently, ' Lord, hold up my go- 
ings in a safe path, that my footsteps slip not, but as to my guide and 
companions, they must look out for themselves. Each of us is re- 
sponsible for himself alone.' The only proper prayer in such a case 
is, * Lord, hold up our goings in a safe path, that our footsteps slip 
not. Guide our guide, and keep all of us steady ; for if one of us slips 
all of us may perish.' Nor is this Swiss mountain-climbing the only 
thing in which we stand or fall with our fellow-travellers. 

" Prayer for ourselves includes prayer for others, when we are sick 
and trust ourselves to a physician. If we ask God's help, we must 
ask it for our doctor also. If we pray for protection on an ocean 
voyage, our prayers should be for the captain and engineer of our 
steamer as well as for ourselves, in order that God may give us safety. 
Prayer for our daily bread involves prayer for the cook or 
baker, who might give us poison in our food." 

H. Clay Trumbull, Prayer ; its Nature and Scope. 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXII. — %w&& 9 Conception of t&e ^Disciple as a JHan of 

fjraper 

( Continued') 

Third Day : The Disciple Praying in Secret 

i . One of the chief ailments of the religious life in Jesus' day was 
its intense itching for notice. Read Matt. 6:5, 6, and the con- 
text, vv. 2-16. The Pharisee's real petition was addressed, not to 
God, but to men, and was simply, " See me pray ! " 

This spirit was absolutely destructive of the real essence of prayer, 
namely, personal address to God. Jesus, therefore, suggested an 
arrangement by which the disciple would be " seen " by but one per- 
son, and would know that he was seen by no other. He was to go 
into the inner room of the house, shut the door, and pray there. 
Then he could be in large measure himself, and could concentrate 
attention on one person. 

Through secret prayer, as through no other means, the faculty by 
which we apprehend the presence of an unseen Father has a chance to 
grow by exercise. 

2. The result of such secret interviews with God is represented by 
Jesus, in language appropriate to the commercially religious spirit of 
the Pharisee, as "recompense" (v. 6). What did Jesus mean by 
this ? What " recompense " is there for one who goes apart, and is 
not seen by men to be praying ? In considering this question, think 
again of Jesus' habit of being alone in prayer. What good did it do 
Him to pray alone ? Glance for a moment at the instances of Jesus' 
secret prayer, mentioned in Study XXI, First and Second Days, and 
see what the effect of them seems to have been. 

3. The very heart of prayer consists in the sense of the presence of 
God. Prayer is not meditation or soliloquy, but a meeting with An- 
other. That Other is not an impassive, unresponsive personality, a 
spiritualized idol, but a Live God, who listens, and whose feelings 
and thoughts as He listens to prayer are said by Jesus to be those of a 
Father. These feelings and thoughts move toward His praying child. 
Prayer is an interview in which there is an interchange of thought and 
an interplay of feeling. 



163 



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Study XXII.— %tm&* Conception of tlje £)tetiple as a Jftan of 

JJraper 

( Continued} 
Fourth Day : Subjects of the Disciple's Prayer 

i . Does the teaching of Jesus contain any directions regarding the 
things for which the disciple ought to pray ? Some of Jesus' disciples 
had previously been disciples of John the Baptist (John I 135-42), 
and had greatly enjoyed the many forms of prayer that John had 
taught his disciples. One of them, therefore, requested Jesus to imi- 
tate John in this particular. Read Luke 1 1 : 1 ; 5:33. The type 
of life cultivated by Jesus among His disciples had been far less austere 
than that of John's company, and probably seemed to casual observers, 
accustomed to the formalism prevalent among the religious leaders 
(Matt. 6:5, 16), to be far less prayerful. Read again Luke 5:33. 
His own disciples did not realize that, while slowly bringing them into 
sympathy with Himself, He was laying deep and strong foundations 
for lives of prayer such as John could not secure in his disciples. And 
so, perhaps, it came about that this unnamed disciple in Luke 1 1 : 1 
tried to stimulate Jesus by citing John's example. Jesus appreciated 
the man's point of view and responded. His response was probably 
at the time disappointing to the Twelve, who doubtless expected 
something more elaborate. It was a list of topics of prayer, and 
seems, because of the two forms in which it has come down to us, not 
to have had one fixed form from the beginning. Read Matt. 6:9-13 
and Luke 1 1 : 2-4. The value of this list of topics as a guide in 
prayer has been increasingly realized. 

2. Take it up clause by clause in the form found in Matt. 6 : 9-1 3, 
considering first v. 9. What is the attitude of the pray-er toward God 
and toward men as indicated in the first two words ? 

When a friend or relative takes up his residence in a far country, our 
world of thought at once enlarges to include that country. What is in- 
dicated by the whole first clause as to the disciple's sphere of existence? 

What does the word "hallowed" mean? Remember that 
" name " is equivalent to person. Exactly what is the disciple pray- 
ing for in this clause ? 

What does the second petition mean ? Is the third petition (v. 10) 
an explication of the second ? Take time to picture to yourself what 
the result in civilization will be, when this part of the prayer is answered. 
What is implied as to the disciple's own effort to answer this prayer? 

164 






Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXII.— Jesus' Conception of tlje £Hsciple as a Jflan of 

J3raper 

( Continued^) 

Fifth Day: Subjects of the Disciple's Prayer (con- 
cluded) 

1. Continue the study of Matt. 6:9-13. Do you note any 
change in the general character of the petitions beginning with v. 11? 
Is it literal bread that is meant in v. 11 ? Does it include anything 
else ? If so, what sort of things does it include ? Note in the marginal 
reading the period of time for which God is asked to make provision. 
It is an arrangement designed to bring a man to his Father each day. 

Is there any indication in vv. 9- 11 as to the relation between 
prayer for our personal needs and that for the Kingdom of God ? 

2. The petition in v. 12, and the necessary connection between its 
two parts have already been considered in the discussion of forgiveness 
in Study XX. 

3. The petition in the first half ot v. 13 seems strange. Does 
"our Father" bring us into temptation? Temptation is certainly one 
feature of the situation in which He has placed us, and temptation 
resisted is evidently a valuable means of establishing right character. It 
is equally certain that our Father does not wish His children to yield 
to temptation. The significance of the petition seems to consist in 
emphasizing the appropriate attitude of the disciple toward the tempta- 
tions that are present in God's world. He is very distrustful of him- 
self, and keenly alive to the awful calamity involved in yielding to 
temptation. He knows his weakness. He does not, like an over- 
confident child, recklessly ask his Father to send him out into tempta- 
tion ; but he prays rather for deliverance from the attacks of evil. It 
is the language of one who wishes to keep out of clearly recognized 
danger, but who, when he finds himself in it, trusts in God for deliv- 
erance and conducts himself with a royal courage. 

Picture to yourself the scene in Mark 14 : 32-40, and note the two 
ways of meeting temptadon. However difficult it may be to under- 
stand in detail the situation of Jesus, there seems clearly to have been 
something of temptation in it. The disciples also were in the pres- 
ence of temptation. Look first at the form of Jesus alone under the 
trees (vv. 35, 36), and then across at the drowsy disciples (v. 37). 
What does Jesus teach here, by word and example, regarding the 
relation of prayer to the meeting of temptation (v. 38) ? 

165 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXII. — %tw&* Conception of tfje £Hsctple a* a jiftan of 

Jkaper 

( Continued) 

Sixth Day : The Disciple Sharing Jesus' Prayer 
for Others 

i . One thing which has been steadily implied in the study of this 
subject needs to be brought out distinctly before leaving it, namely, 
that Jesus' partnership with the disciple in prayer involves the disci- 
ple's sharing Jesus' prayer for others. We have seen that no prayer 
which Jesus can reasonably be expected to share can ignore others. 
Everything that one asks for himself must be in full view of the needs 
of others, and of his own relation to them. What is now to be con- 
sidered is the extension of this spirit to include positive prayer for 
others. 

2. Read John 17 rapidly through, in order to hear Jesus praying for 
His disciples, and so to get an idea of the character of the praying for 
others that the disciple is to share. What petitions for others are there 
in this prayer that might be shared by a disciple ? 

3 . It is not simply in prayer for other disciples that the disciple joins 
Jesus. There is one expression in v. 9 that is possibly significant. 
Consider whether the expression, " I pray not for the world," means 
" I do not now pray for the world," and implies that it was His habit 
to pray for the world. We know that He regarded His death to be 
of significance to the world, and that it was for love of the world that 
He died (cf. John 3 : 16). It is hardly conceivable that such love 
should not express itself in prayer. He certainly distinctly enjoined 
such love and prayer upon His disciples. Read Matt. 5 : 44. To 
what extent is prayer for the world enjoined in Matt. 6:10? 

" For what are men better than sheep or goats 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 
Both for themselves and those who call them friend ? 
For so the whole round earth is every way 
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 

Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur. 



166 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXII.— ^efittfii' Conception of X\t £>iimple as a Jflan of 

JJraper 

( Concluded) 
Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

I . Gather up what has been discovered regarding the conditions to be 
met by the disciple who would pray effectively ; the objects for which 
Jesus would have him pray ; and the relation of the disciple's secret 
prayer to his life in the open. 

We need constantly to remember that it is by virtue of our disciple- 
ship that we have the great opportunity for such prayer as has been 
considered in these two studies. It is because Jesus draws us near to 
His own person, and shares with us increasingly, as we are able to 
grow into it, His own spirit of prayer and His own sense of the pres- 
ence of the Father which is the basis of all prayer. It is particularly 
important that through intimate association with Jesus we come to share 
His desires. The real problem of learning to pray is the problem of 
awakening an unselfish desire, for prayer is the natural expression of 
sincere and unselfish desire. The reason we do not pray more for the 
things that interest Jesus is because we do not really care enough about 
them to pray for them. If our imaginations can be so quickened that 
we see the vision of the heavenly civilization on earth, or of the selfish 
man transformed into a brotherly man, then we shall begin to desire 
these things and to pray for them. 

One cannot desire at will, but he can will to use the means neces- 
sary to create a desire. He can will to discover, and give attention to, 
such facts as beget desire. He can study the teaching of Jesus until 
he begins to see the vision that Jesus saw, "that he who sees forgets 
nevermore ' ' ; he can acquaint himself with the inspiring record of 
transformations of civilization here and there in so-called heathen coun- 
tries ; he can take pains to learn of transformations in the lives of in- 
dividuals, such as are known to any man who has long been connected 
with city missions ; he can take time to be alone and " practise the 
presence of God " ; he can habitually think of Jesus as associated with 
him in prayer, and make only such petitions as he thinks Jesus would 
endorse. He can ask Jesus to teach him in these and other ways how 
to pray, for Jesus is evidently ambitious that His disciples should learn 
to join Him in His great ministry of prayer. 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII.— %zmtf Conception of X\t Disciple <£j:ten&ina; t&e 
fcingfcom of (0oU 

First Day: Disciples to be Employed in Extending 

the Kingdom 

i . As has been clearly seen, Jesus phrased His great hope of good 
for men in the current Jewish expression the " Kingdom of God." 
It remains to consider what part Jesus assigned to His disciples in the 
realization of the ideal expressed by this phrase. 

From the beginning He endeavored to reproduce in the Twelve 
some measure of His own deep interest in men. Read Matt. 4:19, 
and consider what Jesus really meant by these words. Is it legitimate 
to see in Matt. 6:33 anything more than an injunction to seek each 
for himself to be in the Kingdom and live its righteous life ? 

2. As time passed it began to be evident that He proposed to give 
to the Twelve a share in the kind of work He was Himself doing. 
Read Matt. 10 : 1-8. 

At the close of this Galilean synagogue campaign, in which the 
Twelve took some active part, it became evident that the religious 
leaders of the nation were against Him, and that there was much to 
discourage Him. See Matt. 12:14, 24, 38-45. Yet Jesus manifested 
in the face of this opposition the utmost confidence in the ultimate suc- 
cess of the enterprise. Read Matt. 13 131, 32. Note also the con- 
fidence of the farmer, who sleeps soundly at night and goes tranquilly 
about his business by day, when his seed is once in the soil, Mark 
4 : 26-29. ^he question is, What was the source of Jesus' confi- 
dence in the coming of His Kingdom ? What had He done that was 
comparable with the putting of seed in the ground ? What had Jesus 
put into the world that was like yeast in meal, Matt. 13 133 ? 

These parables are not explained in their context ; but in the ex- 
planation of another parable, found in Matt. 13, there occurs a sug- 
gestive phrase indicating what Jesus regarded as the living seed that 
would multiply into a world-harvest. Read carefully Matt. 13 .-38. 

We shall have soon to raise the question, What was it in this small 
group of Syrian Jews that made Jesus reckon them so valuable a part 
of His resources ? Note now simply that they were so reckoned. 

3 . The most distinct statement of Jesus' purpose to rely upon His 
disciples for the realization of His ideal is found in Matt. 28 : 18-20 ; 
Acts 1 : 8. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII. — 3Ntts' Conception of t&e disciple (£rien&ina; t&e 
Kingdom of (3on 

Second Day : The Disciples Preserving and Enlight- 
ening the World 

1. It was seen yesterday that Jesus counted His disciples as a 
prominent part of the resources at His disposal for the realization of 
His ideal of civilization. A more specific statement to this effect is 
made in Matt. 5 : 13-16. What is meant here by calling the dis- 
ciples "salt " ? It is evidently not the use of salt in small portions 
for seasoning food that Jesus had in mind, but rather its use in large 
quantities such as could be sometimes thrown away and " trodden 
under foot of men." He probably had in mind the pickling offish, 
which was an important industry about the sea of Galilee, and in con- 
nection with which large quantities of salt would be used or sometimes 
might spoil and be thrown away. The question then is, What is the 
relation of the disciples to the civilization of the world that makes it 
suitable to regard them as " salt " ? What is the effect of their pres- 
ence upon the civilization of the world ? Try to think this through 
in some detail in the case of the life of a single community. 

2. What does Jesus mean in this paragraph by calling the disciples 
the "light of the world " ? In what respect is the personality of the 
disciple a " light " shining " unto all that are in the house " (v. 15)? 
How are the others morally better off than they would be if the dis- 
ciple were not there ? 

3 . The following words were written by some unknown author in 
the second century whose letter to an inquiring Pagan friend is one of 
the most dignified of the post-apostolic writings : 

" What the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. 
The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and 
Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul 
dwells in the body, yet is not of the body ; and Christians dwell in 
the world, yet are not of the world. . . The soul is imprisoned 
in the body, yet preserves that very body ; and Christians are confined 
in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the 
world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle ; and 
Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an 
incorruptible dwelling in the heavens." 

The Epistle to Diognetus. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII.— Jeans' Conception of X\t £)usriple €#entuna; t&e 
^tnsUom of <J5oU 

Third Day : The Disciples Preserving and Enlight- 
ening the World (concluded) 

i . We have seen the importance attached by Jesus to the presence 
of His disciples in the world. It remains to ask the fundamental ques- 
tion, What was there about the person and life of the disciples that 
made Jesus consider them to be so serviceable in the accomplishment of 
His great enterprise ? What were the qualities that made them seem 
to Him like "seed," " yeast," "salt," "light"? At least a par- 
tial answer to this question may be gained in the statements of Matt. 
5:3-12, which immediately precede the paragraph considered yes- 
terday. One needs to inquire regarding such of these statements as 
bear upon the matter in hand exactly what the quality mentioned is ; 
whether it tends to keep society from disintegration ; and whether it 
tends positively to increase the number of those who have the spirit of 
the Kingdom, or to intensify it in those who already have its beginnings. 
Jesus* plan, of course, was not confined to the mere preservation of 
society from decay, but involved the transformation of society, through 
the renovation of its individual members, into the Kingdom of God. 

2. Take up vv. 3-12 sentence by sentence as suggested above. 
"Poor in spirit" (v. 3) may designate those who are in spirit as 
though poor, whose spirits are humble. The "meek" (v. 5) are 
those who hold themselves ready to serve. The "righteousness" of 
the Kingdom (v. 6) has been seen in Part I to be " love," manifest- 
ing itself Godward in a filial spirit and manward in brotherliness. 

3. Jesus seems to regard the simple presence in the world of a com- 
pany of persons conspicuously characterized by these qualities as a prop- 
agating agency. The result is stated by Jesus in v. 16. The sig- 
nificance of the parable of the yeast in the meal ( Matt. 13:33) seems 
to be that each leavened particle quietly imparts its characteristic to its 
neighbor, simply by virtue of being near its neighbor. Behind the 
process is God vitalizing the relationship. Note the clear statement of 
this in the Gospel of John, 17:21. The sight of a company of peo- 
ple conspicuous for the sincerity and love which characterize their re- 
lations to each other, is what will finally convince the world of the 
reality of the mission of Jesus. 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII. — Jwma' Conception of t&e EHsripIe Cjctenoina; \\t 
feinsBom of <25oU 

Fourth Day : The Disciples Overcoming Evil with 

Good 

i . It was not simply the silent influence upon the world of a com- 
pany of people conspicuous for their love of each other that made Jesus 
consider them a propagating agency. He thought of the disciples as 
bringing the power of their unselfish love to bear directly upon the life 
of the world itself. The most conspicuous and startling instance of 
this is the treatment Jesus expected them to accord their so-called 
" enemies." Read Luke 6 : 27-36. Consider what an " enemy'* 
is. Imagine some concrete cases of real modern enmity. Consider 
also what the expression "to do good" means; and " to bless" ; 
and " to pray for." 

The sentences that follow (vv. 29, 30) describe, in language not 
easily to be forgotten, certain picturesque manifestations of the spirit 
Jesus is inculcating. It is an impressive way of protesting against resent- 
ment. There is no virtue whatever in doing these particular things ex- 
cept as they are expressions of love for, or interest in, the " enemy," 
and if the real desire to benefit the enemy exists, doubtless it may often 
express itself in other ways than these. The characteristic of this family, 
Father and sons, is a merciful spirit (vv. 35, 36). Just as the love of 
God overcomes the sin of men, so will the love of the sons of God. 
The whole family is engaged in overcoming evil with good. 

2. This propagating love is often spoken of as expressing itself in 
showing kindness to another class of persons, as likely to go unloved as 
are enemies, though for a different reason, namely, the helpless. As 
an instance of this read Jesus' table-talk regarding the use of the home, 
Luke 14 : 12-14, and its context vv. 1 - 1 5. 

3. In the disciples' daily intercourse with the world the love of 
God gets into all the cracks and crevices of the world's life. On 
every hand are those who have sorrows, burdens, sicknesses, remorse, 
fear, and moral weakness. To all these the disciple comes in honesty 
and love with his ministry of the love of God. 

" But I hear around me sighs of pain 
And the cry of fear, 
And a sound like the slow sad dropping of rain, 
Each drop a tear ! ' ' 

Whittier, My Soul and I. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII.— %zmtf Conception of tfce £)t£iriple C^tentitnp; tht 
fcinstoom of (0oU 

Fifth Day: The Disciple Reporting his Experience 

i. In addition to the quiet but mighty influence of the disciple's 
character and life as a means of extending the Kingdom, Jesus empha- 
sized the disciple's verbal testimony. By this is meant the report of an 
experience. As some one has said, we are not advocates but wit- 
nesses. Glance rapidly over Mark 5 : 1-17 and read carefully vv. 
18-20. 

A sincere man testifying out of his experience that he has found in 
Jesus the all-powerful Christ, is the rock upon which the Church 
rests. See Matt. 16: 13-18. No plot laid in the dark gateway of 
hell can ever prevail against such testimony (v. 18). Read further 
Luke 24 : 44-49 ; Matt. 28 : 19, 20 ; Acts 1 : 8, as indications of the 
number of those to whom the report of experience is to be given. 

2. Jesus lays stress upon the publicity of the report. Read the 
strong language in Matt. 10 : 27, and note the strenuous tone of vv. 
22, 23 in the context. 

To attempt to live the life of a disciple without letting it be known 
that discipleship is the explanation of the life would not merely de- 
prive Jesus of the credit due to Him, but would be fatally misleading 
to others. It would tend to create in their minds the impression that 
such a life could be lived without connection with Jesus Christ. 

3. It seems to be the policy of Jesus to have His Kingdom extended 
through the message of a man to his fellow-man. If by any means 
the way of communication between a man and his fellow-man could 
be blocked, the entire plan for establishing the Kingdom would be 
defeated. It seems sometimes as though an evil intelligence were 
operating to make the disciple's presentation of his report to another 
man seem to be a difficult and almost impossible undertaking. Yet 
those who have had even a little experience in overcoming this artifi- 
cial sense of difficulty, seem to agree in representing one of the chief 
satisfactions of life to consist in the consciousness of having in this way 
helped another man into discipleship. 

"Trebly blessed art thou, my brother, whose joyful lot it is to 
stretch thy soul over a soul that is dead, as Elisha stretched himself 
over the dead son of the Shunamite, and to raise it up breathing and 
calling upon God ! " — William Arthur, The Tongue of Fire. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII.— %zm€ Conception of t&e disciple ^tenUing X\t 
l&ingfiom of (S5ofc 

Sixth Day : The Disciple Praying for the Extension 
of the Kingdom 

1. Jesus evidently counted the praying of His disciples as one of 
the resources available for the establishment of the civilization of heaven 
upon the earth. On one occasion the magnitude of the undertaking, 
even in the limited form in which at the moment it presented itself to 
Him, seemed greatly to impress Him. In such an emergency it is 
noticeable that He appealed to His disciples to pray. Read carefully 
Matt. 9 : 35-38. 

2. As has been already noted, Jesus proposed to share His achieve- 
ments with His disciples. Read again in John 14:12 His promise 
that they in the future should perform greater achievements in extend- 
ing the Kingdom than His own up to that time had been. Notice 
carefully in v. 13 how these great achievements are to be performed. 

It becomes possible, therefore, for disciples through prayer to pro- 
duce results in parts of the earth remote from themselves. This possi- 
bility rests upon the ability of God to put a thought into the mind of a 
man. That He should sometimes wait for prayer before He does it, 
is in accord, as has been seen, with His general policy of doing things 
in such a way as to give to His children the largest feasible share in the 
achievement. 

" Another experience came in the fall of 1882 and the spring of 
1883. I found that a spirit of speculation and doubt of many of the 
vital, doctrines of the gospel had come into the school and was also 
among some of the pastors as well. The preaching was too much of 
a speculative, philosophical character. Doubts of the divinity of 
Christ, and especially of the reality of the Holy Spirits were rife in our 
school, even among some of the teachers. I felt a great agony of 
prayer for this, as did some of my colleagues. When the Week of 
Prayer came, the first of January, it passed without any special results, 
and we held it over a second week, having a general meeting every 
evening to pray especially for the outpouring of God's Spirit upon the 
school. But no result came. Then a little band of perhaps ten held on, 
praying daily for this object. The first part of February I felt prompted 
to write a letter stating the spiritual condition of the school and our 
needs, and asking for special prayer for the outpouring of God's Spirit 
upon the school. I made forty copies of it and sent them to most of 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

our colleges and theological seminaries in the United States. The 
weeks wore on and there was no sign here. The little band of pray- 
ing ones had decreased to half a dozen. On Sabbath, the sixteenth of 
March, 1883, in the afternoon and evening an invisible influence 
struck the school. None of the teachers knew of it until the next 
morning. But of the about one hundred and fifty young men in the 
school, very few closed their eyes in sleep that night. Almost every 
room was filled with men crying to God for mercy. The professing 
Christians were at first under the deepest conviction of sin. This ex- 
perience lasted a week, during which time there was no preaching. 
The whole movement was to human eye spontaneous, and the only 
efforts almost which the teachers put forth were to restrain from excesses 
and guide the inquiring souls into the light. All but four or five who 
were in the school passed through this experience, and the work 
spread from our school to the churches in this part of Japan, and this 
revival changed the whole spirit of our school. There have been no 
doubts since that time of the existence and work of the Holy Spirit. 
About the middle of April answers to my letters came, and they told 
us that on March 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and on, companies were 
praying for the outpouring of the Spirit on the Doshisha, some of them 
saying that they were praying with strong crying and tears.' ' 

Rev. Jerome D. Davis, D.D., 
Missionary Herald, November, 1889. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIII. — ^efitts* Conception of tlje SHsctjile (Krientotng; t&e 
fctns&om of <3tiH 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the evidence that Jesus planned to give His disciples a re- 
sponsible part in the extension and establishment of His Kingdom ; and 
see how He expected them to perform their part. Make clear to your- 
self what it is that Jesus is engaged in doing, that is, what the funda- 
mental features of the Kingdom of God are. The Kingdom is a civiliza- 
tion, a social system, in which every member, as a disciple of Jesus, is 
a true son to his Heavenly Father and a true brother to his fellow-man. 

<< At the close of the Ecumenical Conference, held at New York in 
1900, the General Committee prepared an address to the Church. 
This address was read at a meeting attended by representatives of mis- 
sionary societies of all parts of Christendom and was adopted unani- 
mously. It concluded thus : ' Entrusting to Him the certain guidance 
of the great tides of influence and life which are beyond our control, it 
is for us to keep the commandments of His Son and carry to those 
for whom He lived and died and rose again the message of the good- 
ness and love of their Father and ours. We who live now and have 
this message must carry it to those who live now and are without it. It 
is the duty of each generation of Christians to make Jesus Christ known 
to their fellow-creatures. It is our duty through our own preachers and 
those forces and institutions which grow up where the Gospel prevails, 
to attempt now the speedy evangelization of the whole world. We 
believe this to be God's present call,' « Whom shall I send and who will 
go for us ? ' We appeal to all Christian ministers set by divine ap- 
pointment as leaders of the people, to hear this call and speak it to the 
Church, and we appeal to all God's people to answer as with one 
voice, ' Lord, here am I, send me.' " 

Mott, The Evangelization of the World in This Generation. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXIV. — <%zmtf Conception of X\z £)icttple ©^tenUinc; X\z 
5&ins&om of (£oU 

( Continued) 

First Day: The Disciple Using his Money 

i. The Jewish civilization into which Jesus entered was one in 
which even the religious teachers of the day were greedy for money. 
Note the first clause of Mark 12 : 40 in Jesus' criticism of them, and 
the ridicule with which they met His teaching regarding the use of 
money, Luke 16 : 14. 

The fact that Jesus found His fellow countrymen so bewitched with 
the desire for money, explains in part, perhaps, the extremely forcible 
way in which He presented His teaching regarding its use. It seemed 
to the Twelve that a respectable rich man was certain to find an honor- 
able place in the new order of things. Note their impatient surprise 
at the apparent impracticability of Jesus' views on this point, Mark 
10:23-26 and its context, vv. 17-22. See also the strenuous 
language in Luke 6 : 20, 21, 24, 25 ; 12:33. He seemed determined 
to speak in such a way as to make an impression upon the callous, 
money-loving heart of His generation. 

2. One of the most forcible presentations of Jesus' thought is found 
in Luke 12: 13-21. Read the passage carefully. Out of the great 
money-loving crowd that confronted Jesus came a typical cry for a 
division. " Make my brother divide !" the voice cried (v. 13). In 
reply Jesus tried to give the crowd a new view of life. He advanced 
the idea that the possession of property does not constitute/^? (v. 15). 
Note the contrast between "soul" and " things" (v. 20.). Jesus 
then proceeded to draw a picture of a well-to-do farmer who thought 
that life consisted in the possession of things. The man was not dis- 
honest (v. 16) nor niggardly (v. 19), and yet God applied to him a 
title that he had never heard from the lips of his admiring neighbors, 
and pronounced his life a colossal blunder (v. 20). What was the 
matter with the man ? What is the meaning of v. 21 ? 

3. The poor man is in equal peril with the rich man. Notice the 
close connection of the poor man's paragraph, vv. 22-29, and the 
force of " therefore " (v. 22). He who is discontented because he is 
not rich fundamentally resembles in disposition him who is contented 
because he is rich. He who wants the necessities of life for himself 
alone has the same disposition as he who wants the luxuries for himself 
alone. Eoth agree in wanting things for themselves alone. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIV.— jeans' Conception of tyt EHscipIe CttenHtng; X\z 
fcinafcom of <0o& 

{Concluded*) 

Second Day : The Disciple Using his Money 
(concluded) 

1 . Jesus' most distinct teaching regarding the use of money is found 
in Luke 16:1-12, the parable of the " Shrewd Steward." Read 
vv. 1-8 and note that in v. 9 (read the Revised Version) Jesus dis- 
tinctly states the thought that He has been illustrating. In this verse 
" mammon of unrighteousness " is an expression describing money. 

The essential feature of the Kingdom of God is its brotherliness, its 
eternal friendships. Money is to be so used as to produce eternal 
friendships. Read v. 9 again. The disciple is to use his money in 
such a way as to insure his finding in the life to come that eternal friend- 
ships have been gained by it with those whom it benefited, although 
during his life on earth he may never have known them. 

Read in vv. 19-25 the account of a man who did not use his money 
in this way, and who consequently did not have the joy of eternal friend- 
ships in the life to come. In partial contrast read Luke 10 : 33-35. 

2. The fact that the disciple is a son of God is assurance that he will 
in the future be called upon to exercise great power. He is like the 
son of a wealthy father, who will have great power and responsibility 
when he becomes of age. Human life is a device of God for training 
His children in the unselfish use of power. He puts money, which is 
a comparatively low form of power, into their hands so that they may, 
by the unselfish use of it, prepare themselves to be trusted with higher 
forms of power in the age to come. Read carefully Luke 16 : 10, 11. 
Consider whether it would be safe to trust a man with prayer-power 
who could not be trusted to use even the lower money-power unself- 
ishly. Consider also whether the Church as a whole can be trusted 
with prayer-power, until it has learned to use its money unselfishly in 
the service of Jesus' new order of things. 

3. Money is a temporary possession (cf. Luke 12 : 20). If a man 
cannot use unselfishly that which must soon go to another, how can he 
be given in the age to come something to keep, forms of spiritual power 
that will be an essential part of himself? Read Luke 16 : 12. 

4. It is as easy for a man with a small sum of money as for a man 
with a large sum of money to learn to use his money unselfishly. Per- 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



haps it is easier. Moreover, there has never been in the past such an 
opportunity as exists to-day for a man with a small sum of money to 
take a large part in the extension of the Kingdom of God. This is due 
to two facts, the possibility of quick communication with remote parts 
of the earth, and the ease with which combinations are formed. A call 
for money can be published by some trustworthy benevolent agency ; 
fifty thousand men can send each a dollar ; and the $50,000 can be 
cabled half way around the world, all within a week. The world is 
becoming one vast neighborhood. It is becoming more and more evident 
in economic development that God intends to establish the civilization 
of the new Kingdom in such a way as to give all the disciples of Jesus a 
share in the achievement. 

We are so closely knit together that the commonplace disciple with 
the silent influence of his merciful heart ; with his sincere word of tes- 
timony ; with his inspired prayer ; and with his dollar, can make a 
contribution to the consummation of Jesus' great hope for humanity, the 
influence of which no man may measure. 

" We are living, we are dwelling, 

In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling ; 

To be living is sublime. 
Hark ! the waking up of nations, 

Gog and Magog to the fray ; 
Hark, what soundeth is creation 

Groaning for its latter day. 

" Worlds are charging, heaven beholding, 
Thou hast but an hour to fight ; 
Now the blazoned cross unfolding, 

On, right onward, for the right ! 
On ! let all the soul within you 

For the truth's sake go abroad ; 
Strike, let every nerve and sinew 
Tell on ages, tell for God ! " 

Arthur Cleveland Coxe. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIV.— JJefitts' Conception of t&e EHsctpIe anfc &ts 

Jftission 

Third Day: Review of Studies XVI, XVII, XVIII, 

XIX 

As we draw near to the close of Part III it remains to make some 
definite and measurably exact statement of Jesus' conception of the 
disciple and his mission. In order to gather the material for such a 
statement it is necessary to make a general survey of the ground trav- 
ersed. Look rapidly over Studies XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, in 
order to see what they have contributed to such a general statement as 
is proposed. The general questions to which answers are sought are 
these : What did Jesus consider the undiscipled man by virtue of his 
nature to be ? What is it to become a disciple ? What constitutes a 
successful disciple ? That is, What is a disciple in the world for ? 

Record whatever material for reply is afforded by these four studies 
in preparation for a final statement. 



Fourth Day : Review of Studies XX, XXI, XXII, 

XXIII 

Glance rapidly over Studies XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, and the 
first two days of XXIV, looking for material that can be used in reply 
to the questions proposed yesterday. 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIV.— testis' Conception of t&e £>tsctple anti &te 

iittfision 

Fifth Day : The Disciple's Preparation for the 
Christ's Judgment 

Before making your final statement consider the light thrown on the 
subject by two paragraphs contained in the Synoptic report of Jesus' 
last conversations with His disciples. These paragraphs are found in 
Matt. 25 : 14-46. In the first paragraph, vv. 14-30, a business man 
leaves his estate in charge of servants. He entrusts to each some- 
thing that is capable of being increased, and the increasing of which 
secures for the trustee his lord's approval. 

The subject that is being illustrated is evidently readiness for the 
Messianic judgment (Matt. 24 : 42). It is the account of this judg- 
ment that immediately follows in the second paragraph, vv. 31-46. 
The question therefore is, What has been given to every man, which 
is capable of being increased, and the increase of which prepares him 
for the Christ's judgment ? Read vv. 14-30 with this question in 
mind. 

Now read vv. 3 1 -46 for further light on the question, because this 
second paragraph contains a picture of the Christ's judgment and a 
representation of what it was that prepared certain persons to meet this 
judgment. This investigation, of course, is intended to throw light on 
Jesus' conception of the disciple's mission and of what constitutes a dis- 
ciple's success. 



Sixth Day : Jesus' Prayer for His Disciples 

It is natural to suppose that Jesus' final prayer for His disciples, in 
the last moments of His earthly intercourse with them, would con- 
tain some expression of what His deepest desires for them were. 
Therefore, before making a final statement of His conception of the 
disciple and his mission, read John 1 7 very carefully. In this reading 
note everything that throws light on Jesus' ambition ( 1 ) for the in- 
dividual disciple and (2) for the disciples as a body. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIV. — Jesus' Conception of t&e EHsciple anO j)te 

Jftission 

Seventh Day : Summary of Part III 

1 . Gather up the results of the work of the past few days into a 
compact statement of what you understand to be Jesus' conception of 
the disciple and his mission. 

2. That which seems to be most significant in the nature of the 
human personality is its capacity for unselfish love. Every human 
being enters the world with this, and human life seems to be a device 
of God for the development of this capacity into an actual power. 
Normal human relationships from the beginning of existence appeal to 
this capacity. The little child is drawn out first in love to its mother 
and soon to its father. Later an appeal of a different sort is made, it 
may be, by a brother, and still another by a sister. In due time the 
new love for husband or wife enters the experience of this personality, 
and the love for son and daughter. No one of these seven relations, 
which the human personality sustains in the fully developed family life, 
is exactly like any of the others. They constitute a seven-fold appeal, 
of the most powerful character imaginable, intended to develop the sodl's 
latent capacity for unselfish love into an active power. To these 
family relationships are to be added the many other relationships of 
friendly intercourse which spring up in daily life. 

In the light of this view of life the supreme significance of daily life 
becomes evident. Ordinary daily life may reverently be said to afford 
the most favorable opportunity the infinite ingenuity of God could 
devise for the development of the love-power in human personality. 
What seems to us a commonplace daily routine seems to God a mar- 
vellous opportunity for life, as is evident from the importance attached 
to it in Jesus' description of the judgment. Read again Matt. 
25 : 35-40. The ambition of Jesus for His disciple is that his daily 
life, so conceived, shall be a success. 

3. Another way of stating the ambition of Jesus for His disciple is to 
say that the disciple is intended to become an expression of the love of 
God. It is the genius of God to express Himself. The dominant note 
in both the Old and New Testaments is that God means to be known. 
The disciple in whom daily life develops the capacity for unselfish love 
into an ever-increasing power, becomes an agency through which the 
love of God can express itself. The culminating thought in Jesus' 
prayer for His disciples is found in the last sentence, John 17 : 26. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

God's love and Jesus' spiritual presence are to be in the disciple, and 
work out upon the life of the world through the disciple. The suc- 
cessful disciple is the one who is increasingly becoming, according to 
his ability, an expression of the love of God. God is getting at the 
life of the world through the love of these God-charged personalities 
that Jesus gathers about Himself and fills with the Spirit. 

In this sense they are sent into the world on the same errand that 
Jesus came to perform. " As the Father hath sent me, even so send I 
you" (John 20 : 21). "I manifested thy name unto the men whom 
thou gavest me out of the world " (John 17 : 6). 

As disciples of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, they so 
reveal the love of God as to contribute to the coming of that age in 
which all men shall be true sons to God and true brothers to each 
other. 

" After those days, saith the Lord 5 
I will put my law in their inward parts, 
And in their heart will I write it j 
And I will be their God, 
And they shall be my people : 

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 
And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : 
For they shall all know me, 

From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : 
For I will forgive their iniquity, 
And their sin will I remember no more." 

The Prophecy of Jeremiah. 



182 



PART IV 

THE APOSTOLIC CONCEPTION OF THE 
DISCIPLE AND HIS MISSION 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXV.— ©Je &po$toitc Conception of t&e EHscipIe in ifc e 

First Day : The Disciples in the Church a Holy 
Brotherhood 

i. In the New Testament literature outside of the Gospels and 
Acts the word " disciples " does not occur. Its place is taken by the 
words " saints," or " holy ones," and " brothers." The expres- 
sion " Kingdom of God," or an equivalent, occurs in the Epistles, but 
much less frequently than in the Gospels ; and the word " Church," 
which in the Gospels is found only in Matt. 16:19; 18 : 17, is 
freely used in the Epistles. It is not safe to infer from this fact, how- 
ever, that " Church " and " Kingdom " are exact equivalents. 

The Greek word translated ' * church ' ' is the word used in the 
Greek Old Testament to designate an "assembly " of God's people. 
The word has a developing meaning in the New Testament, being 
applied first to a single local body of Christians, and later to the whole 
body of Christians in the world. It is also occasionally used of a 
special meeting of Christians for worship, I Cor. 14 : 19, 35. 

2. In order to gain some conception of the frequency with which 
the words " saints," or "holy ones," and "brothers" are used as 
the ordinary designation of Christians, note some of the following refer- 
ences, which are but a few of many : Rom. 1 : 7, 13; 8: 1 2, 27; I Cor. 
1 : 2, 10; 6 : 1, 6 ; II Cor. 1:1,8; 13: 11, 13; Eph. I : I ; 4: 12 ; 
6:23; Phil. 1:1,12; 4:21,22; Col. 1 : 2 ; I Thess. 1 : 4 ; I 
Tim. 5:10; Heb. 13 : 22-24 5 J uc ^ e 3 5 ^- ev - 5 : 8. 

The Greek word translated "saints" does not occur as a designa- 
tion of Christians in James, I and II Peter, and the Johannine letters ; 
but the word " brothers " is so used in them. 

We come then upon these three words, " church," "saints," 
"brothers," as the current designations of disciples in the apostolic 
age, and we seem warranted in making the statement that the disciples 
were thought of as constituting in the Church a holy brotherhood. 
Endeavor to think through the meaning of this designation. 



185 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study XXV.— W$z &poetolic Conception of tfce £HscipIeg in X\t 

Clmrcl) 

Second Day : The Disciples in the Church a Holy 
Brotherhood (concluded) 

1 . We need still further to see what is involved in this designation 
of the Church as a holy brotherhood. The question first arises, 
What is meant by calling the disciples " saints " or " holy ones " ? 

They are sometimes represented, if the translators are justified in 
inserting the words "to be," as "called to be saints," which ap- 
parently refers to the purpose of God for them in inviting them into 
personal relation with Himself. Are they regarded as already being 
saints, or is the term used as descriptive of what they will be at some 
future period ? See Rom. 8 : 27 ; I Cor. 16 : 1 ; II Cor. 13 : 13. 

The original meaning of the Greek word translated "holy" is 
" worthy of veneration," in which sense it is applied to God. It 
describes also the moral quality in the character of God which renders 
Him worthy of veneration. Anything that is set apart for God's 
uses or service is thought of as also worthy of respect or veneration, as 
for instance the furniture of the tabernacle. In the case of persons 
set apart for God, the word implies a certain moral character requisite 
in those who thus devote themselves to the service of God. 

It was the thought of the Old Testament that the Jewish nation 
was under peculiar obligation to be holy because set apart by God for 
His own service. See the emphasis placed upon this idea in enforcing 
the Levitical distinction between clean and unclean foods. Lev. 
11 : 43-45. Cf. I Peter 1 .-15. 

2. Endeavor to determine what moral qualities in God and man are 
indicated by the word " holy." What is a " holy " person ? What 
quality or qualities in the person of God or a good man call out most 
profound respect ? 

If the punctuation adopted by the translators in Eph. 1 : 4 be cor- 
rect, what light does the passage throw on the nature of holiness? 
What is indicated as to the nature of holiness by I Thess. 3 : 1 1-13 ? 
By I Thess. 5 : 26 ? By Eph. 5:1-4? 

3. The other word in the characterization of the Church, namely, 
«« brotherhood," emphasizes the idea already seen to be so prominent 
in the teaching of Jesus. 

Still endeavor to think through in the details of local church life the 
significance of this designation of the Church in the world as a "holy 
brotherhood." 

186 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXV. — W§t gpostolic Conception of X\t ^Disciple in t&e 

eiwrcb 

Third Day: The Relation of the Disciples in the 
Church to Jesus 

i . The relation of this holy brotherhood of disciples to Jesus is va- 
riously represented in the apostolic writings. A general statement of 
the relation in several of its phases, as conceived by Paul, is found in 
Eph. 5 : 22-33. Note the different things that are said in this passage 
about Christ's attitude toward the Church, remembering that '* to 
sanctify ' ' means to make holy. 

A significant statement of the relation of individual disciples in the 
Church is found in I Cor. 1 : 2, where they are spoken of as "sanc- 
tified in Christ," that is, Paul regards the personal association of the 
disciple with Jesus as that which makes him a "holy man." Read 
also I Cor. 6:11. See also the significant connection between two 
phrases in Rom. 1 : 6, 7, " called to be Jesus Christ's," and '* called 
to be saints." Paul conceives of the disciple as one who is separated 
to the holy uses of Jesus Christ in human society. This idea of holy 
separateness to God or Christ is expressed clearly in Rom. 12 : 1, 2. 
Read also the sentence in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders, Acts 
20 : 28. 

2. The relation of Jesus Christ to the Church is sometimes repre- 
sented by Paul under the figure of a building, particularly a temple. 
Read Eph. 2:21, 22. Read also I Cor. 3 : 10-17, m which the 
characters of the members of the local church are represented as built 
by the preacher upon Jesus Christ as a foundation, and in which the 
whole structure is represented as a temple. 

3. We find it difficult to shake off certain uncomfortable associations 
connected with the words " holy " and " saint," which evidently did 
not exist in the mind of Paul. The words are associated in our minds 
sometimes with the seclusion of the cloister rather than with the noise of 
the factory ; and yet Paul's " holy man" would not be out of place 
managing or working in a factory, as is evident from detailed descriptions 
of him found in Paul's letters. This has become more evident as men 
have come to see more clearly the social life of Christ. His holiness 
did not consist in shutting Himself away from men, but in meeting their 
needs in honesty and love. There is no holier man than he who, in 
fellowship with Jesus Christ, lives a life of sincerity and love. 

187 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXV. — %\z Apostolic Conception of t&e Disciple in t&e 

C&ttrcj) 

Fourth Day : The Relation of the Disciples in the 
Church to Jesus (concluded) 

i. In Paul the relation of Jesus Christ to the Church is several times 
presented under the figure of a body. The earliest use of the figure is 
in I Cor. 12 : 12-30, particularly v. 27. Chief emphasis is placed 
here upon the relation of the various parts of the body to each other, 
rather than upon the relation of the body to Christ ; and yet the latter 
is clearly assumed in v. 27. Is it all Christians, or simply the Co- 
rinthian church, that Paul likens to a body ? What is it in the figure 
that gives the body its unity and keeps the parts in co-operation ? 

The next occurrence of the figure is in Rom. 12:4, 5. Read this 
passage and see whether it is the local church or the Church universal 
that is the body here. 

2. In the later letters, written from Rome, the centre of world-em- 
pire, Paul uses the word Church to describe all the Christians in the 
world. Here again reappears the figure of the "body." Read Col. 
1:18 and its context, vv. 12-17. What is the relation of Christ to 
the "body" here? Read also 2 : 19. Here Christ seems to be 
represented in the figure as sustaining to the body the same relation that 
the physical head sustains to the trunk, and as being the source of 
growth. 

Read also Eph. 1 : 22 and 4 : 15, 16. What relation does Christ 
sustain to his "body," the Church, in 5 : 29, 30. 

3 . Consider more fully what is involved in the first use of the figure 
of the body, in which Christ is represented to be its animating spirit. 
The body is the visible manifestation of the invisible spirit. Consider 
the closeness of the relationship existing between the spirit and its body 
and the completeness of the spirit's control of the body. The spirit 
acts through the body, and in this way expresses itself and accomplishes 
its purposes. The churchly body of Christ, the " holy brotherhood," 
is to go up and down the world's highways with the same spirit and 
purpose that animated the human body of Jesus in His Galilean days. 
He is so large a personality that it is only through a great company of 
people that He can move about and express Himself on the world-wide 
scale on which He is now working. 



188 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXV. — C&e Slpogtolic Conception of t&e ^Disciple in X\t 

Clmrt!) 

Fifth Day : The Relation of Disciples in the Church 
to Each Other 

i. Turn again to I Cor. 12, where the local church is represented 
as "a body of Christ " (v. 27), and where chief emphasis is laid 
upon the relation of the parts to each other. Read it carefully, look- 
ing for light upon the question, What ought to be the attitude of a dis- 
ciple in the church to his fellow-members ? What are the conditions 
under which the members of such a "body " will be least likely to 
have time and inclination to compare themselves with others ? 

In Eph. 3 : 1 -1 3 the fact is brought out that the problem of proper 
internal relationship on a large scale was occasioned by the presence of 
Jewish and non-Jewish elements in the Church. These two elements 
were, by previous training and habits of thought, diametrically opposed 
to each other in many respects ; and yet Paul conceived that as Chris- 
tians in the Church they were to be parts of a thoroughly unified 
"body." Moreover, such a union of these two elements included all 
the world, so far as the world might become Christian, and was there- 
fore an object of interest to the entire universe. Read the paragraph 
carefully, remembering that a "mystery " is a concealed truth, not nec- 
essarily a truth difficult to understand. What is there about the Church 
that reveals to the heavenly world the " wisdom " of God (v. 10) ? 

Read Eph. 4:11-16, which pictures the growing body. God's 
purpose is to secure a full-grown, strong, healthy body perfectly re- 
sponsive to His animating Spirit. Who are represented here as build- 
ing up this body ? Read the paragraph again, looking for an answer to 
the question, In what particulars is it represented that the body will 
grow? Or what will be the chief characteristics of the " full-grown " 
body ? Notice especially the first phrase in v. 15. Think this through. 
Is the truth ever spoken not in love? Notice that the Greek word 
covers more than mere speaking (see margin). Compare this idea 
with the Johannine conception of Jesus as one full of " grace and 
truth" (John 1 114). 

2. One aspect of the mutual relationship between members of the 
local church is distinctly brought out by Paul in the following pas- 
sages : Gal. 6:2; Rom. 14:1,15; 15 : 1 ; I Cor. 8:13. 

3. The word "church" does not appear in I Peter, but read 5:1-5, 
noting everything that is said about the mutual relations of Christians. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXV. — W$z Apostolic Conception of X\z EHsctple in t\>z 

Cfmrcl) 

Sixth Day : The Relation of Disciples in the Church 
to Each Other (concluded) 

i . It is necessary to look more closely into the details of the rela- 
tionship which the apostles sought to establish between the individual 
members of the churches with which they had to do. The character 
of the church depends upon the character of the individual elements 
constituting it ; and the character of these consists in their relation to 
each other. 

What four things regarding their mutual relationship are specified in 
Eph. 4:25-29? The previous character of the persons to whom 
these words were addressed is made very evident ! Why does the 
fact that we are « * members one of another ' ' constitute a reason for 
telling one another the truth (v. 25) ? Anger, if it be felt, is to be 
short-lived. Note each expression in vv. 31, 32. Is there anyone 
fundamental characteristic underlying all of these ? 

2. Paul became still more specific in discussing the relations between 
different classes of Christians. Sum up in a sentence what he says 
about the mutual relations of Christian husbands and wives in Eph. 
5 : 22-33, remembering that these words were written in view of the 
needs of the civilization of his day. The directions along these lines 
that a missionary in Africa might find it necessary to give to his con- 
verts would in some respects be parallel to these. Give the substance 
of Eph. 6:1-4. Slavery was one of the institutions of Paul's day. 
Sum up what he says in vv. 5-9 regarding the mutual relations of 
Christian masters and slaves. 

3 . In order to see how important mutual relations of disciples in 
the Church seemed to all the apostles, read rapidly the following, and 
note whatever injunction underlies or is common to them all : I Cor. 
1 3 ; Phil. 1:9; 2:1-8; I Thess. 4:9, 10; 5:11-15; II Thess. 
1:3; Heb. 10:24, 25; James 5:16; I Pet. 3:8-12; I John 
3:16-18. 

4. It is evident that the apostles came ultimately to share fully 
Jesus' sense of the importance of mutual love. Their ambition for the 
churches they founded, like that of Jesus for the apostles themselves, 
was that they might be conspicuous for the love they felt and in prac- 
tical ways manifested in their mutual intercourse. 

190 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXV. — W$z &poeitolic Conception of X\t SDieciple in t^e 

eijurcl) 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i . Sum up what has been discovered this week regarding the apos- 
tolic conception of the disciple in the Church. What is to be the 
character of the membership of the Church ? What is to be the rela- 
tion of the membership individually and as a whole to Jesus Christ ? 
What is to be their relation to each other ? Perhaps the question 
which best gathers up the result of the week's work is, What was the 
apostolic conception of a successful local church, so far as the study of 
the week has revealed it ? 

2. We have seen that the apostles did not conceive of the men and 
women of the Church as established in holiness. There were those 
among them who were "weak in the faith, "and others who were 
liable to slip back into lying, stealing, and the use of obscene language 
(Eph. 4 : 25-29). The missionary establishing a little church in a 
heathen environment understands this. Yet they were all " holy 
brothers ' ' because they had associated themselves with the holy per- 
sonality of Jesus Christ ; were sacredly set apart for His uses in human 
society ; and were being transformed through personal association with 
Him into moral likeness to Himself. 

Doubtless the local churches in some modern communities fail sadly 
to fulfil the apostolic ideal of church life. One result of the revival of 
the study of the New Testament, which has now begun among the 
men and women of the Church, will be the resurrection of the apos- 
tolic conception of church life. To be fellow disciples in the same 
church will be felt to be a relationship full of responsibility and inspir- 
ing possibility. The covenant to "watch over each other" will be 
seriously made. The little church will be conspicuous in the commu- 
nity as an organization whose members love each other. The church 
with a feud, a debt, and a dreary prayer meeting, will be transformed 
into a holy brotherhood that will begin to feel like a part of the great 
body of Christ in the earth. 

In the meantime it is a great mistake for any disciple of Jesus to 
stand outside waiting for this transformation to occur in any church 
that happens to need it. The transformation will never be produced 
except through the agency of those in the church who have seen the 
vision and begun quietly and unostentatiously to respond to it. 

191 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVI.— W$t Apostolic Conception of i\z Eelation of t&e 
iDtsciple to tfje ^olp Spirit 

First Day : The Disciple and the Holy Spirit in 
Acts, Peter and Hebrews 

i . It became evident in Study XIX that Jesus' chief ground of ex- 
pectation, as He contemplated the future of His disciples, was their 
promised connection with the Holy Spirit. In the early history of the 
beginnings of the Church, as recorded in Acts, great prominence is 
given to the influence of the Holy Spirit in the career of the disciples. 
For the most part, however, it is only one aspect of the subject that 
is considered in Acts, namely, the influence of the Holy Spirit upon 
the disciples in their career of witnessing. The author's point of view 
is stated in Acts I : 8. 

Note the following instances in which, at important junctures of the 
great campaign of testimony, stress is laid upon His influence : 2:1-4; 
4:5-8, 31; 6:3, 8, 10; 7:55; 8:14-17, 29; 9:15-17; 
10 : 19, 44, 47 ; 13 : 2-4, 9 ; 16 : 6, 7 ; 19 : 1-6. 

2. It is not only the relation of the Holy Spirit to the successful 
prosecution of the campaign of testimony that largely interests the author 
of Acts, but also certain impressive external manifestations of His influ- 
ence, 2:4,6; 4:31; 8:17-19; 10:46; 19:6. 

I Peter resembles Acts. In 1:11 the Spirit is represented as in- 
spiring Old Testament writers, with which view compare Acts 1 : 16. 
In I Peter 1:12 note the mention of the Spirit in connection with 
the word of testimony just as in Acts. So also in 4 : 14. Cf. also II 
Peter 1:21. At the same time one phrase in I Peter 1 : 2 betrays 
familiarity with another phase of the subject. 

What has been said of I Peter may also be said of Hebrews. See 
2:4; 3:7; 9:8; 10:15. The only other references, 6:4; 
10 : 29, may indicate familiarity with another phase of the subject. 

In Acts, too, certain features of the life of the disciples are inciden- 
tally mentioned which it may be inferred were due to the influence of 
the Holy Spirit, but this connection is not emphasized by the author of 
Acts, 2 : 43-47 ; 4:32-35. See also 9:31; 13 : 52 ; 15:8, 9. 

3. In Paul, and to some extent in John, another aspect of the subject 
is prominent. Very little, if anything, is said about the empowering 
of the disciples for testimony, but attention is concentrated upon the 
moral effects of the Spirit's influence upon the characters of individual 
believers and the Church as a whole. 

192 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVI.— W$t Apostolic Conrcption of t&e delation of tlje 
SDigripl* to t&e {>olp Spirit 

Second Day : The Pauline Conception of the Holy 
Spirit in Personal Association with the Disciple 

i. Read again the first paragraph of Study XIX, Second Day. 
What personal attribute is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in I Cor. 2:10, 
11? In I Cor. 1 2 : 1 1 ? In Eph. 4 : 30 ? In Rom. 8 : 27 ? 
When not designated as the " Holy Spirit" or " the Spirit" He is 
usually referred to as the " Spirit of God." See also Rom. 8:9; 
II Cor. 3:17, 18 ; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19. Does Paul make any 
distinction between God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy 
Spirit ? Consider the bearing on this question of Rom. 8 : 1 1 ; 15: 
30 ; I Cor. 6 : 1 1 ; II Cor. 13 : 14 ; Titus 3:5,6. Read care- 
fully Rom. 8:9, 10 and II Cor. 3 : 17, 18. Paul seems to imply 
that the presence of the Spirit involves the presence of Father and Son. 
This seems to be the Johannine view also, I John 3 : 24 ; 4:13. 

It needs to be borne in mind that all of Paul's allusions to this sub- 
ject are incidental to the attainment of certain great pracdcal results in 
the daily lives of those to whom he writes, and that they are in no 
sense metaphysical discussions. His great thought is that God associ- 
ates with the disciples of Jesus. What does the common phrase 
«' communion" or " fellowship of the Holy Spirit," II Cor. 13 : 13, 
mean ? 

2. While in Paul, as in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit is chiefly spoken 
of as in association with Jesus and His disciples, a few things are inciden- 
tally said about His relation to God which tend to deepen the disciple's 
appreciation of the privilege of such association. Read I Cor. 2:6-11, 
thinking of the vast reaches of knowledge and experience that belong to 
Him with whom the disciple is to be so intimately associated. 

3. There is always danger, when a strong personality associates 
with a weak one, that the strong will so overbear the weak, by the 
very force of his personality, that the weak will not develop character 
of his own. The weak will accept the ideas and habits of the strong 
without putting enough of himself into them to give them value as per- 
sonal character. So the strong personality of the Holy Spirit is 
represented as not forcing Himself upon the disciple, but tactfully and 
with wise restraint influencing him. Read for instance Eph. 4:30. 



193 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVI.— CJe gpostolic Conception of t&e Eelation of tje 
disciple to t&e ^olp Spirit 

Third Day : The Holy Spirit Helping the Disciple 
to Feel and Act Like a Son of God 

1. When the disciple comes up out of his selfishness, or "flesh" 
life, into God's forgiveness and into a life in which his unselfish spirit- 
ual nature begins to exercise mastery in response to the call of Jesus to 
discipleship, he makes but a weak beginning of new life. He does not 
adequately realize who he is and whose he is. He needs help. 
Paul's thought is that at this time of need his spiritual nature is mightily 
re-enforced by the Spirit of God, who helps him to feel and act like the 
true son of God that he has now become. Read carefully Rom. 
8 : i- 1 7. He has scarcely learned the language of the new life of 
sonship and needs to be helped to speak his Father's name. Read v. 
1 5 . He has not yet been brought into that profound and abiding 
sympathy with the desires of Jesus that enables him to pray in fellow- 
ship with his Lord. He does not yet understand what a disciple 
ought to pray for, and in this particular the Holy Spirit is his Helper. 
Read Rom. 8 : 26. Notice in this verse the extreme interest that the 
Spirit is represented as feeling in the disciple. In speaking sometimes 
of the "offices" of the Spirit we are in danger of thinking of His 
relation to us as "official" instead of intensely personal. But it is 
the very love of God that is brought to bear upon us in our association 
with the Spirit of God. See in this connection Rom. 5:5. In 
Paul's later epistles this thought of the Spirit as a Helper of the weak 
disciple reappears. Read Eph. 3 : 14-19. 

2. Naturally a peculiar sacredness pertains to the personality of one 
who is so intimately associated with the Holy Spirit of Go4. This 
fact Paul emphasized by the use of a figure that must have seemed 
forceful both to his Jewish and Gentile contemporaries. He was able 
to use it as the basis of a powerful appeal for self-respect. See I Cor. 
6 : 19. 

The general effect and purpose of such association is stated in one of 
Paul's earlier letters, II Thess. 2:13. What is the meaning here of 
"salvation"? What is the connection between "salvation," 
" sanctification," or holiness, and "the Holy Spirit" ? 



194 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVL— (E&e Apostolic Conception of tlje Eelation of t&e 
Disciple to tlje ipolp Spirit 

Fourth Day : The Holy Spirit Helping the Disciple 
to Feel and Act like a Son of God (concluded) 

i. We have so far considered the general effect of the disciple's 
association with the Holy Spirit, namely, that the Holy Spirit helps 
him to feel like a son of God, and as a son of God to make such gains 
in personal holiness, or " sanctification," as are essentially involved 
in his being saved from a selfish life and its disaster to an unselfish life 
and its success. It remains to inquire whether the effects of such an 
association are more specifically described. 

2. A man's incidental statements are often indicative of the most 
fundamental and ever-present convictions of his life. Such an inci- 
dental statement is made by Paul in Rom. 14: 17, which mentions 
the three fundamental characteristics of the life lived in association with 
the Holy Spirit. What is there about association with the Holy Spirit 
that tends to produce each of these ? What light does the specifica- 
tion of these three throw on the Spirit's own personal character ? Read 
also from a later letter, Eph. 5 : 18-21, noting the connection be- 
tween v. 18 and what follows. 

A more complete enumeration of results is the familiar list in Gal. 
5 : 22, 23. Try to read this list as though you had come upon it 
for the first time, as a great discovery destined to affect all of your 
subsequent life. Think of the meaning of each of these words. 
These experiences are not to be strained after. They are the natural 
(t fruit " of association with the Spirit. 

3. A large part of personal intercourse is the opportunity it affords 
to affect another's thinking. What kind of thoughts does the Holy 
Spirit put into the mind of the disciple ? Read again with care I Cor. 
2 :6-i6 before you answer this question, and Eph. 3 : 5 and its 
context. Both of these passages show Paul to be thinking of the Holy 
Spirit as one who makes men hopeful. This is distinctly brought out 
in Rom. 15 : 13. The powerful re-enforcement of the Holy Spirit 
opens before the human spirit a prospect that begets great hopes. 
Paul had found this to be true in his own experience and had repeat- 
edly noticed it in the experience of his converts. See the significant 
phrase in I Thess. 1:6. 



195 



Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXVI.— C^e &postolie Conception of tlje Relation of X\t 
£Hsriple to t&e polp Spirit 

Fifth Day : The Holy Spirit Unifying the Church 
and Assigning to Each his Work 

1. In Paul's earliest epistles there appears the idea so prominent in 
Acts. Note what this idea is, as expressed in a sentence in which Paul 
describes his experience when he first preached to the Thessalonians, I 
Thess. 1:5. It appears also in later letters, I Cor. 2 : 4, 5 ; Rom. 
15:18, 19. 

2. In I Cor. 12, as has already been seen, the local church (with 
some possible reference also to the Church universal, v. 28) is con- 
ceived to be a body. Paul's conception of the relation of the Holy 
Spirit to this body is now to be ascertained. Paul's fundamental pre- 
supposition is that the Holy Spirit stands in some relation to every 
member of the body. See vv. 3, 13. For a more specific statement 
of His assignment of functions to each member, read vv. 4-1 1. With 
the first clause of v. 10 cf. Gal. 3 : 5, and see the conception of the 
author of Heb. 2:4. 

Probably many of the members had no " gift," but the Spirit opened 
the way for the " ungifted " man to an attainment superior to all 
gifts, I Cor. 12 : 31, the nature of which Paul describes in chap. 1 3 . 

Similar indication of Paul's recognition of the Spirit's assignment of 
gifts in the local church is found in Acts 20 : 28. What light does 
Acts 15 : 28 throw upon the current conception regarding the relation 
of the Spirit to the officers of the Church ? 

In I Cor. there also appears Paul's conception of the local church 
as a building, sacred because it is the residence of the Holy Spirit, the 
destruction of which by any factious man is a piece of impious sacri- 
lege. Read 3 : 16, 17. 

3. In Paul's later letters, as has already been seen, the Church as 
a whole is represented by him as the body of Christ. Read Eph. 
4 : 1-16, and state what it represents to be the relation of the Holy 
Spirit to the Church universal. 

The real principle of unity among all Christians in the world, 
underlying superficial differences of polity and theological opin- 
ion, is that stated by Paul in this passage. Is there any sugges- 
tion in this paragraph as to the way in which some greater sense of 
unity can be developed in the consciousness of the Church ? 

196 



Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVI.— C&e Apostolic Conception of t&e Kelation of t&e 
TDimpU to t&e $>oip Spirit 

Sixth Day : The Holy Spirit's Presence a Prophecy 
of the Future 

i. There are certain statements in Paul's teaching regarding the 
Holy Spirit that should be noticed here in passing. They relate to 
the permanence of the personal relationship established between the 
Holy Spirit and the disciple. The first of them is found in Rom. 
8 : 1 1 . What is it here said the disciple may hope for in view of his 
connection with the Holy Spirit? Read Rom. 8 : 23, which contains 
a more explicit statement. In this sentence the presence of the Spirit 
is represented as the beginning, or '* first fruits," of something. Of 
what is it the beginning? 

2. In II Cor. 1:22 occurs an interesting expression. The critical 
words here are "sealed" and "earnest." A seal set upon a docu- 
ment is an indication that its contents have been examined and approved 
by a competent authority. What constitutes the disciple's evidence 
that he has been approved by God ? Cf. Eph. 1 113, 14 ; 4 : 30. 
Of course this seal of approval has nothing mechanical about it, but is a 
vital experience that affects real life and character. 

The other word which occurs in II Cor. 1:22 is found also in II 
Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1 : 14. It is used of a preliminary payment made 
to indicate that the person engaged in the transaction is in earnest. The 
presence of the Spirit, then, is a foretaste of what God has for us in the 
future. An effort will be made later to ascertain what is to be found 
in the apostolic teaching regarding the character of the life to come. 
For the present it is needful simply to notice the statement here made. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVI.— C&e Apostolic Conception of tfje Relation of tlje 
disciple to tlje |)oIj> Spirit 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the ground covered during the week. Did the apostles 
conceive of the Holy Spirit as a personal intelligence ? What is the 
evidence that they thought of Him as personally associated with the 
disciple ? Enumerate the advantages to the disciple of this association. 
What is His relation to the Church in the world ? 

4 ' My God, I heard this day 
That none doth build a stately habitation, 
But he that means to dwell therein. 
What house more stately hath there been, 
Or can be, than is Man ? to whose creation 
All things are in decay." 

" More servants wait on Man 
Than he'll take notice of : in every path 

He treads down that which doth befriend him 
When sickness makes him pale^and wan. 
O mighty love ! Man is one world, and hath 
Another to attend him. 

" Since then, my God, Thou hast 
So brave a palace built, O dwell in it, 
That it may dwell with Thee at last ! 
Till then afford us so much wit, 
That, as the world serves us, we may serve Thee, 
And both Thy servants be." 

George Herbert, Man. 



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Study XXVII. — Ws>z Apostolic Conception of t&e ^Hsciple in tie 

g>orto 

First Day : The Apostolic Conception of the World 

i. Before considering what the apostles thought of the relation of 
the disciple to the world, it is necessary to make a general statement 
regarding the apostolic conception of the world. The inquiry at this 
point is not concerning the apostolic theory of the origin and destiny of 
human society, but concerning the apostolic theory of the relation of 
contemporary society to God. 

Probably few men outside the Roman army had traveled as widely over 
the world as had Paul (II Cor. 1 1 : 23-27 ; Rom. 15 : 19, 22-25), 
and he knew not only men but man. In consequence of his wide 
acquaintance with men and his own personal experience, Paul broke 
largely away from his inherited rabbinical opinions regarding the con- 
dition and possibilities of the non-Jewish world. The first question is, 
What did he conceive to be the moral condition of the world and its 
attitude toward God? Read Rom. 1:18-2:2. In Rom. 8:1-8 
Paul seems to say that the ordinary man does not care for God (v. 7), 
that is, is fundamentally selfish. Paul lost prestige with his own country- 
men, among other reasons, because he discarded their cherished belief 
that Jews were an exception to this statement, Rom. 3:19, 20. See 
also in Eph. 2:1-3 what appears to be a statement of his view of the 
world ; and a further statement in vv. 11, 12. Read also 4 : 17-19. 

What was Paul's view of the attitude of God toward the world? 
Paul gives two answers to this that seem to be contradictory, but really 
combine in a deeper synthesis. See Rom. 1:18; 2:5; Eph. 2 : 36 ; 
II Cor. 5 : 15. 

2. In Paul's day certain philosophical teachers, more or less in- 
fluenced by Christian thought, regarded themselves as set to teach 
"wisdom" to a select spiritual aristocracy. Against this tendency 
Paul vigorously protested, and announced a democratic gospel through 
the acceptance of which everything desirable would be given to all 
men. Read Col. 1 : 28, emphasizing "every" and "all." Read 
also Rom. 1:16. 

3. In John there appears a view of the world and God's attitude 
toward it like that of Paul. Note John's brief description of the 
"world " as he saw it in its luxuriant pride in Ephesus, I John 2:17. 
See also 3:1, 13; 5:19. On the other hand, note what John 
represents to be God's attitude toward the world, I John 2:2; 4:14. 

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Study XXVII. — W$z ^tpofitoltc Conception of tfce £>usciple in tlje 

g?orto 

Second Day : The Disciple in the Daily Life of 
the World 

i. One of Paul's fundamental positions, based upon his own ex- 
perience, was that in connecting himself with Christ he had passed into 
a new world. He expresses this thought in strong language. Read 
Gal. 6 : 14 ; II Cor. 5:17; Phil. 3 : 20 ; and especially Col. 3 : 1-3. 

Yet there is an entirely different side to Paul's thought. He is full 
of human interest. He by no means proposed to have his converts 
withdraw from active connection with the life of the world ; and when 
he was once misunderstood to have urged this, protested almost im- 
patiently. See I Cor. 5:9-11. He took great pains to keep his 
converts from thinking that they were exempt from civil responsibilities. 
Read Rom. 13:1-7. What conception of the relation of civil govern- 
ment to God is here expressed ? 

He expected them to take part in the regular daily work of the world. 
Read I Thess. 4 : 11, 12. What does the first part of v. 12 mean? 
That is, How was the failure to work likely to result in dishonest deal- 
ing with non-Christians ? Cf. also II Thess. 3:10; Rom. 13:8. 

2. Note what is revealed regarding Peter's conception of the dis- 
ciple's relation to the world by two words in I Pet. 2:11. Note the 
further thought in vv. 13-17. 

3. What is meant by the last clause of James 1 : 27 ? By 4 : 4, 5 ? 
This does not involve withdrawal from business life, for note the 
assumption in 4:13-16 that business life will continue. In what 
spirit would he have his readers do business ? 

4. What does John mean by the injunction in I John 2:15? 

It is remarkable that those who so confidently expected the speedy 
coming of Jesus to overturn existing institutions and establish the new 
order, could have kept their converts so sanely and soberly in touch 
with the daily life of the world. They were to be in close contact 
with everything that was wholesome in the world, looking upon it as 
coming from Him who "giveth us richly all things to enjoy " (I Tim. 
6:17); and yet they were to be of an utterly different spirit from 
that which dominated the civilization in which they lived. They were 
tc take their part in all its daily work, but to move about among their 
associates as those possessed by the deep peacefulness of a great and 
steadfast hope. Read Tit. 2 : 11 -14. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVII.— C&e &pofitolic Conception of X\t Disciple in X\i 

B>otft 

Third Day : The Disciple Tempted in the World 

i . The fact that the disciples were so close to the life of the world, 
and yet were expected to act so steadily under the influence of an un- 
worldly set of motives, made it necessary for the apostles to warn 
them against yielding to temptation. The questions to be asked are, 
What were their most serious temptations ? How were they to be met ? 

2. The temptations most frequently specified are those arising from 
the previous life of the disciple. Read I Cor. 6 : 6- 1 1 . The 
situation is clearly stated in the contrast presented in Col. 3 : 1 - 1 1 . 
Read the passage. The temptation to give up because of opposition 
was an ever-present temptation in the apostolic age as it is in many 
parts of Christendom to-day. Another class of temptations are those 
that arise from the intimate association of disciples with each other, 
and the consequent opportunities for friction. Read Col. 3:12-17; 
Phil. 2:1-4. The strenuous statements of Jesus about one class of 
the tempted find echoes in the apostolic teaching, I Tim. 6:9, 10, 
17-19. 

Peter, like Paul, warns against the temptations springing out of pre- 
vious habits of life. See I Pet. 2:11, 12; 4:1-6. 

3. The Epistle of James is evidently written with reference to the 
needs oi men sorely tempted. Notice the temptations specified in 1 : 
19, 20 ; 2:1-4. Notice the clear statement of the temptation to be 
satisfied merely with a right theory of life, 2:14-16. Read carefully 
3:1-8; 4:11 ; 5:9. 

4. The author of Hebrews makes eloquent protest against the dan- 
ger of a decaying conviction, and the final sinking into fatal lethargy 
after a period of earnest activity. See particularly 3:12-4:1; 10:23, 
32-39; 12 : 1-3. 

5. John fears three things : that the subtle influence of the 
"world" will dim the disciple's sense of fellowship with the Father 
(I John 2 : 1 5-17) ; that the disciple may be content with a theoreti- 
cal regard for his brother (3:7-10, 17, 18); and that certain false 
views regarding Jesus may gain currency among them (2 : 18-26; 

4:1-3)- 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVII.— W$z gpostoltc Conception of tfce SDisriple in tjje 

^orlU 

Fourth Day : The Disciple Resisting Temptation 

i . The individual man was to the apostles, as to Jesus, a being of 
vast significance. For him to yield to temptation was an indescribable 
calamity, and to resist meant a correspondingly great success. Paul 
has drawn the most vivid picture of the tempted disciple and the signifi- 
cance of his conflict. The figure, which occurs in its most complete 
form in one of his prison epistles, may have been suggested to him by 
the daily spectacle of his soldier guard putting on his armor piece by 
piece. Read Eph. 6 : 10-18. With whom does he engage in con- 
flict ? With what resources ? With what prospect of success ? 

The secret of resistance to temptation, as the apostles state it in va- 
rious forms, is to realize the presence of God. The vivid imagination 
of the author of Hebrews puts the matter effectively in 11 : 27. Any 
device that helps to make the presence of God a reality at the moment 
of temptation, or more especially any habit of life that tends to secure 
a steadily deepening acquaintance with God, is recognized by them as of 
value in resisting temptation. State in your own language three prac- 
tical directions for resisting temptation that are stated or implied in Eph. 
6 : 1 7, 18. Notice another direction in 4 : 26, 27. Any ill will toward 
a fellow man of necessity obscures the sense of the presence of God. 

While one cannot will not to be tempted and cannot will merely to 
stop giving attention to that which tempts him, he can will to give his 
attention to something else. Read Phil. 4:8, 9, noting the great 
source of relief stated in the last clause. While one cannot prepare 
himself for an emergency in a moment, he can establish certain habits 
of thought that will be of service to him in time of need. 

See also Paul's conception of God as present with His way of 
escape in every temptation, past which exit from the situation every 
man who yields has first to go, I Cor. 10:13. 

2. In James the recommendation is that a man school himself to 
realize clearly what the two possible issues of temptation are. Read 1 : 
12-16. He can establish certain habitual views of temptation that 
will help him to resist when the temptation comes. 

3 . In Peter it is the imminence of the judgment which Christ will 
personally accomplish at His coming, with its rewards and punish- 
ments, that is urged as a motive to resist temptation. Glean what 
bears upon this subject in I Pet. 4:1-19. Read also 5:8-10. 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

4. In John it is habitual association with God that entrenches the 
disciple in a position from which he can resist the attacks of temptation. 
Read I John 4:4; 5:4,18-21. 

" And so 1 live, you see, 
Go through the world, try, prove, reject, 
Prefer, still struggling to effect 
My warfare ; happy that I can 
Be crossed and thwarted as a man, 
Not left in God's contempt apart, 
With ghastly smooth life, dead at heart, 
Tame in earth's paddock as her prize. 
Thank God, she still each method tries 
To catch me, who may yet escape, 
She knows, — the fiend in angel's shape ! 
Thank God, no paradise stands barred 
To entry, and I find it hard 
To be a Christian, as I said ! 
Still every now and then my head 
Raised glad, sinks mournful — all grows drear 
Spite of the sunshine, while I fear 
And think, ' How dreadful to be grudged 
No ease henceforth, as one that's judged, 
Condemned to earth forever, shut 
From heaven ! * 

But Easter-Day breaks ! But 
Christ rises ! Mercy every way 
Is infinite, — and who can say ? '* 

Browning, Easter-Day. 



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Study XXVII.— dTlje Apostolic Conception nf \\z Disnpie in t&e 

Fifth Day : The Disciple Bearing Witness in the 

World 

i . In the apostolic thought the disciple stands in the world as a wit- 
ness. Acts 5 : 20 expresses the apostolic conception in a single sen- 
tence. The disciple finds himself living a certain kind of life, and bears 
witness to Jesus Christ as the source of the life. 

The first concern of the apostles was that their converts should have 
the life. Trace this idea through I Peter 2:11,12; 3 : 1, 2, 1 5, 16. 

2. What relation does Paul in Phil. 2 : 14-16 represent the disciple 
to sustain to the world? Read Col. 4 : 5, 6. " Opportunity " for 
what (see marginal reading) ? 

Note Paul's conception of the disciple's share in the witnessing of 
another in different parts of the world. Read Eph. 6 : 18-20; Phil. 
1 : 19, 20 ; Col. 4 : 2-4 ; II Thess. 3:1. 

3 . The testimony of the disciple often involves suffering. The first 
letter of Peter was written to those whose confession of the Lordship 
of Jesus had resulted in suffering. Read I Pet. 4:12-19. What 
motives are here used to secure persistence in the testimony? 

Notice in Col. 1 : 24 Paul's conception of the significance of his suf- 
ferings. In the process of building up a body of Christ in the world 
through testimony Paul experienced suffering. What nerved him to 
endure it and even to rejoice in it ? 

4. The disciple who passes through suffering patiently and peace- 
fully makes it evident, as he can do in almost no other way, that there 
are hidden resources in his life, that he really is, as he says he is, asso- 
ciated with a Person whose friendship is a permanent and sufficient 
satisfaction. 



204 



Studies in the Teaching of yesns and His Apostles 

Study XXVII.— C^e Apostolic Conception of t&e £HscipIe in tlje 

Sixth Day : John's Conception of the Disciple's Tes- 
timony to the Fundamental Certitudes of his 
Life 

i . In John's conception, as has already been seen, the disciple 
stands in an evil world. He stands bearing testimony to certain things 
of which, on the basis of experience, he is sure. The characteristic ex- 
pression of I John is "we know." The epistle can be read through 
in less than ten minutes. Read it, noting what it is of which the dis- 
ciples, as they face the world, are able so confidently to say, " We 
know." 

2. The testimony of a man's life is composed of his real convic- 
tions, convictions which deepen with the years. Some convictions dis- 
appear in time ; those that abide constitute his message. Some of the 
fundamental certitudes described in the epistle may not be discovered 
by simply looking for the phrase "we know," as suggested above. 
Consider the following among others you may have discovered : "I 
know that I love the friends of Jesus," 3 : 14. "I know that God 
abides with me," 4:13. *•< I know that God hears prayer," 3 : 21, 
22; 5:1 4, 15. "I know that it will be well with me in the 
future," 3:2; 5:13. 

3. Perhaps we do not adequately estimate the value of a life that 
goes steadily on, finding in its experience these things to be fundamental 
certitudes, and bearing its quiet testimony to them through sorrow, suf- 
fering, joy, success, defeat, year after year before a restless, dissatisfied 
world. That which gives the disciple's testimony its power is the 
fact that the disciple evidently has something that others have not. 

" Love is and was my King and Lord, 
And will be, tho' as yet I keep 
Within his court on earth, and sleep 
Encompass'd by his faithful guard, 

" And hear at times a sentinel 

Who moves about from place to place, 
And whispers to the worlds of space, 
In the deep night, that all is well." 

Tennyson, In Memoriam. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXVII.— W$t Apostolic Conception of tlje EHdtiple in i\t 

g?orto 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

Review the work of the week and state briefly the apostolic concep- 
tion of the world ; the disciple's part in its work ; the temptations that 
come to him, and the way in which he is expected to resist them ; the 
substance and method of his testimony. 

" The Son of God goes forth to war, 
A kingly crown to gain 5 
His blood-red banner streams afar : 
Who follows in his train ? 

*' Who best can drink his cup of woe, 
Triumphant over pain, 
Who patient bears his cross below — 
He follows in his train. 

" The martyr first, whose eagle eye 
Could pierce beyond the grave, 
He saw his Master in the sky, 
And called on him to save : 

" A glorious band, the chosen few, 
On whom the Spirit came — 
Twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew, 
And mocked the cross and flame. 

" They climbed the steep ascent of heaven 
Through peril, toil, and pain : 
O God ! to us may grace be given 
To follow in their train." 

Reginald Heber. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— (EJe Stpostolic Conception of i\t £>iscipie in 

(Bternitp 

First Day : The Disciple Looking into Eternity 

i . Before determining the apostolic conception of what the details of 
the disciple's eternity will be, ascertain the apostolic view of the hope- 
ful spirit with which he looks into the future. There are certain gen- 
eral expressions which occur with some frequency. Read for instance 
Phil. 3 : 12-14, and analyze the last phrase of v. 14. Who calls? 
In what sense is it a "high" or "upward" (marginal reading) calling? 
That is, up to what or whom ? In what sense is it " in Christ " ? 

In another of the prison epistles Paul expresses solicitude lest his 
converts should not realize what high hopes are warranted in view of 
their discipleship. Read Eph. 1 : 15-23, noticing particularly the ex- 
pression in v. 18. Cf. also Eph. 4 : 4. See, in still another prison 
epistle, the expression found in Col. 1:5. 

Another general expression that needs particular notice is found in 
Rom. 5:2. What is it that is hoped for here ? Do not spend much 
time at present in trying to think through the meaning of the word 
"glory," for it will be considered later. The point at present is to 
appreciate the profound and unquenchable hopefulness with which the 
apostles urged the disciple to look into eternity. 

2. Notice what Peter considers to be the great characteristic of the 
disciple, which the world will wonder at and ask to have explained, 
I Pet. 3:15. Cf. also 1 : 3 , 21. 

3. The author of Hebrews was concerned to keep his readers per- 
sistent in the Christian life. Notice the aspect of the Christian life 
which he emphasized, 3 : 6 ; 6 : 1 1, 18 ; 7 : 19. In I John 3:1- 
4 see John's view of the disciple's outlook, and the effect of that out- 
look upon his present life. 

4. The apostles came with their great hope into a despairing age 
whose philosophy commended suicide. Seneca said, "Seest thou 
yon steep height ? Thence is the descent to freedom. Seest thou yon 
sea, yon river, yon well ? Freedom sits there in the depths. Seest 
thou yon low, withered tree ? There freedom hangs. Seest thou thy 
neck, thy throat, thy heart ? They are ways of escape from bondage." 
But there was a man in a Roman prison who could rebuke this cow- 
ardly mood of a degenerate age by sending out from his prison such 
messages as have been cited. The living God in Christ had called men, 
and it was certain that He would do for and with them something 
worthy of Himself, 

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Studies in the Teaching of yesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII. — W$t Apostolic Conception of X\t ^Disciple in 

eternity 

Second Day : The Disciple and Death 

i. That which blocked the disciple's view of eternity was death. 
Even some of those who had the disciple' s great hope awakened in 
them felt that if death should overtake them before the Lord returned, 
they would be shut out from what they had hoped for. Read I 
Thess. 4: 13-18. 

The apostles taught their converts to regard death as a mere incident 
in the disciple's career, which had no power to diminish his hope. 
See Paul's own personal feeling about the matter in Phil. 1 : 20-24, 
and his song of victory over the grave, I Cor. 15:55, 57. 

2. The source of the confidence with which the disciple faces death 
is stated by Paul in I Thess. 4:14: the indestructibility of discipleship, 
the inseparableness of the disciple and his Lord. This position was a 
logical consequence of the apostolic view of what discipleship meant to 
Jesus. The apostles felt that the friendship between Jesus and His 
disciples was not a one-sided relationship. Jesus did not merely suffer 
Himself to be loved, but Himself loved. "Who loved me and gave 
Himself up for me," (Gal. 2 : 20) was the apostolic description of Him. 
If whenever hour after hour through the years a disciple died, the tender 
relation of discipleship forever ceased, then Jesus would continually be 
suffering the distress of profound bereavement. He would be always at 
the grave of Lazarus, though with immeasurably greater reason for grief, 
because then He wept in sympathy and with sure hope of His friend's 
resurrection, but in this case He would sorrow as those that have no hope. 

3. Sometimes the disciple's indifference to death is based by Paul 
on the permanence of the disciple's relation to the Holy Spirit. Read 
Rom. 8:11. 

4. In John 3:1, 2, although death may not be distinctly contem- 
plated, there seems to be an underlying assumption that God would not 
let His child sink into non-existence. 

" Grow old along with me ! 
The best is yet to be, 

The last of life, for which the first was made : 
Our times are in His hand 
Who saith, ' A whole I planned, 
Youth shows but half; tr God : see all, nor be afraid ! ' " 

" Thou waitedst age : wait death nor be afraid ! " 

Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezra. 
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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— W$t &$a&talit Conception of t&e EHactple in 

Cternitp 
Third Day : The Disciple an Heir of God 

i. It is what the disciple has already experienced that furnishes the 
ground of his great hope as he faces eternity. One thing that Paul tried 
to accomplish for the men and women whom he gathered into churches 
was to awaken in them a sense of who they were. The Johannine 
representation of Jesus as sharing all things with His disciples appears 
also in Paul. See the remarkable expression in Rom. 8 : 16, 17. 
By virtue of the disciple's attachment of himself to Jesus he has already 
come with Jesus into a relation to God described as joint-heirship. Heir- 
ship has an implication of futurity. The thought seems to be the daring 
conception that the disciple shall share what comes from God to Jesus. 

Notice in v. 18 the word by which Paul designates this inheritance. 
It is needful to reach at least some partial conception of what the word 
" glory' ' meant to Paul. A hint as to the meaning of the word is 
found in the immediate context, vv. 19-24. What are the disciples 
represented to be waiting for as part of their " inheritance " ? The 
fact that Paul had seen on the Damascus road the " glorious " body 
of Jesus perhaps accounts in part for his strong emphasis of the 
splendor of the disciple's glorified body. Cf. also Phil. 3:21. What 
further explication of this "glory " that the disciple inherits is found 
in Rom. 8:29? Note also the last clause of v. 30. Does Paul 
mean by the " image of His Son " in v. 29 anything more than the 
external manifestation of the personality of Jesus which he had seen 
near Damascus ? Does he have in mind the moral character of Jesus ? 

Note also Rom. 5:2. Here again the question is, What concep- 
tion had Paul in mind when he used this language ? What did he 
really hope for ? Read also II Cor. 4: 16-5 14. Note that whatever 
Paul and the other apostolic writers meant by the word, they conceived 
of the "glory" as something that Jesus shared with them (see again 
Rom. 8:29; II Thess. 2:14; Phil. 3:21); and that they thought 
of it as a fit consummation of human existence (II Cor. 5 : 1-5). 

2. The fact that Paul's supreme interest was in the moral character 
of his converts leads to the conviction that in his conception of their 
future he would take large account of moral qualities, and that in his 
emphasis of the glorified body he thinks of it as a fit manifestation of 
personal moral exceller^ 

Notice two other gen^. . . .... its regarding what the disciple as an 

heir of God anticipates possessing, I Cor. 3 :2i, 22; Rom. 8:31, 32. 

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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— W$z &pos;toIit Conception of X\t EHgeipIe in 

Ctemitp 

Fourth Day : The Disciple's Eternity a Continu- 
ance of Personal Relationships 

1 . It has been seen in the teaching of Jesus that life consists in per- 
sonal relationships, in friendships — that he who loves God and his 
neighbor lives. The apostolic conception is that personal relationships, 
in a purified and glorified form, persist in eternity and will constitute 
life in its fulness then as their beginnings constitute real life now. 

Notice the terms in which Paul describes the disciple's life in eter- 
nity. Read first I Thess. 4 : 13-18. What personal relationships are 
described in v. 17 ? What is the bearing of II Cor. 5 : 6-8 on this 
subject ? Notice the suggestive word, occurring twice in Rom. 8 : 
35-39, that designates the opposite of personal relationships. 

The letter to the Philippians was written when Paul was thinking 
definitely of his eternity. What conception is expressed in 1 : 23 ? 
In Col. 3:4? 

An exceedingly suggestive expression is found in the last clause of 
Col. 1 : 27. Think its thought through. Exactly what is it that is 
here described as the ground of Paul's expectation ? What is there 
about this personal relationship that is calculated to secure glory ? 

In Paul's figure of victors at the end of life's stadium, a figure used 
shortly before his death, notice the personalities that appear, II Tim. 
4 : 7, 8. 

2. The eloquent author of Hebrews contrasts the scene at Mount 
Sinai (Ex. 19 : 10-25) w ^ tn tne one which his imagination produces 
when he endeavors to picture the disciple's eternity. Read 12 : 18- 
24, noticing the terms in which he describes the life of the age to 
come. Derive everything you can from this passage regarding his 
conception of the disciple's eternity. 

3. What is John's conception as suggested in I John 3 : 2, 3 ? 
Notice anything in Rev. 21 : 1-4 that implies personal relationship ? 



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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— C^e Apostolic Conception of t&e disciple in 

Cternitp 

Fifth Day : The Disciple's Occupation in Eternity 

1 . One of the most conspicuous features of man as we know him 
now is his capacity for achievement. Read in Gen. I : 28 the com- 
mission with which he is represented to have been projected into ex- 
istence. A large part of the history of civilization is the record of 
man's activity in "subduing" the earth and all the natural forces in 
the midst of which he moves. He has manifested an irresistible in- 
stinct of inquiry, achievement, and domination. The present query is 
this : Did the apostles have any conception of the occupation in eter- 
nity of this resourceful and versatile being called man? Do they give 
evidence of having thought about what they should themselves do in 
eternity ? 

Their utterances on this subject are confined to generalities. The 
fact that they experienced so much of persecution naturally led to the 
somewhat negative conception expressed, for instance, in II Thess. 
1 : 3-12, especially v. 7. See also I Pet. 5 : 10. 

2. An inference is to be drawn from the apostolic conception of 
Jesus as one who shares all things with His disciples. He is con- 
ceived to be in some measure sharing His present occupation with the 
disciples. See Col. 1 : 24, 29. It would seem to be fair to infer 
that a being of His vast energy will not be left eternally unoccupied, 
and that He will continue to share His occupation with His disciples. 

The same inference seems to be warranted by the conception ex- 
pressed in Rom. 8 : 16, 17. A son inherits his father's " business." 
Cf. Jesus' expression in Luke 2 : 49 (margin). 

We can only say that there is ground for inferring that some occupa- 
tion worthy of God, and of Christ, and of His disciples will be pro- 
vided, and that there will be ever-enlarging opportunities for the ever- 
increasing powers of the disciple. 

'* And, doubtless unto thee is given 
A life that bears immortal fruit 
In those great offices that suit 
The full-grown energies of heaven." 

Tennyson, In Memoriam. 



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Studies in the Teaching of fesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— &be &poatolic Conception of X\z £)tectplc in 

eternttp 

Sixth Day : The Brotherhood of the Endless Life 

i . A basal idea in the apostolic thought regarding the future is the 
persistence of character. Notice the Pauline statement of this in I 
Cor. 13:13. It is implied in 15 : 58. What is there in the preced- 
ing context that shows why their labor is not "vain," or to no pur- 
pose ? The great law of continuity, which is so widely recognized in 
our day, seems to be involved in this apostolic conception. The 
present is to some extent a product of the past, and the future will 
spring out of the present. We have seen that the aim of God's present 
dealing with the disciples, as the apostles conceived it, is to secure a 
holy brotherhood. This holy brotherhood they regard as destined to 
continue and develop "in eternity. It is a brotherhood of the endless 
life. 

2. The idea of an eternal brotherhood carries with it the idea of the 
eternal common Fatherhood of God. The ultimate conception of the 
apostles is a civilization, somewhere and sometime to be realized, to 
include all the righteous of all the ages, in which all shall for evermore 
be true sons* of God and true brothers to each other. The Bible may 
be defined broadly as the history of God's effort to realize this ideal. 
In its beginning man is seen to be running away from God, and God to 
be searching for man and calling after him. Read Gen. 3 : 8, 9. In 
the final view of humanity God has His children again. He is in the 
midst of them wiping the tear stains from their weary faces, strengthening 
them for eternity, introducing them into the civilization of the endless 
life. Read Rev. 21 : 1-4. Read all of chapters 21 and 22, trying to 
glean from the apocalyptic imagery whatever you can regarding the 
civilization of eternity. Read also 7 :g- 17 ; and Heb. 12 : 22-24. 

Into the civilization of the brotherhood of the endless life Jesus leads 
His disciples. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXVIII.— &&* Apostolic Conception of X\z £Hfisctpie in 

(Etetnttp 

Seventh Day : Review of the Week 

i . Review the study of the week, and sum up what has been dis- 
covered about the disciple's outlook into eternity. What warrants him 
in supposing that he has an eternity ? What enables him to look 
forward to it with anticipation ? What is to be the character of his 
life in eternity ? What do we mean by * ' heaven ' ' ? 

2. It seems to be true in the development of being that whatever is 
highest and best in the lower order is a prophecy of what will be 
commonplace and characteristic in the next higher order. In life as 
we now know it the highest and the best things are friendship and 
work, the power to love and the power to achieve unselfishly. As has 
been seen, it is in these two highest and best features of life as we now 
know it, that we find our hint of what is to be commonplace and charac- 
teristic in the life to come. The friendships and achievements of brotherly 
men under the leadership of Jesus Christ will give eternity its zest. 

No man can forecast what these achievements will be. The past 
achievements of the race, even though handicapped by selfishness, have 
resulted in the marvellous civilization of to-day. If the race can 
accomplish so much in spite of the efforts of men to hinder each other, 
what can it not accomplish when the spirit of brotherliness shall be its 
fundamental characteristic ? What may not be its career under the 
" new heavens " and on the " new earth " ! 

"The Crowning Race 

" Of those that, eye to eye, shall look 

On knowledge ; under whose command 
Is Earth and Earth's, and in their hand 
Is Nature like an open book j 

" No longer half-akin to brute, 

For all we thought and loved and did, 
And hoped, and suffer' d, is but seed 
Of what in them is flower and fruit." 

Tennvson, In Memoriam. 



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Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 

Study XXIX. — & Statement of JJeraonal Cestimonp 
First Day : Review of Part IV 

Look rapidly over Studies XXV to XXVIII and state what seems to 
you to be the apostolic conception of the mission of the disciple. 

Second Day— Seventh Day : The completion of a course of study 
like the present one affords a suitable occasion for an inventory of re- 
ligious convictions. A man's fundamental convictions constitute the 
real testimony of his life. What he counts for in the great universe of 
personal life depends upon what his fundamental convictions are, and 
the faithfulness with which he yields himself to them in action. The 
strenuous, though often unworded, proclamation made by every honest 
soul of what it believes to be true gives it the subtle power in the 
economy of God that we call influence. 

It often happens that the making of such a statement of personal 
convictions acquaints one with himself. He finds himself really pos- 
sessed of convictions the presence of which in his life he had not real- 
ized. He sees also sometimes that truths hitherto unrecognized are 
necessarily involved in truths already accepted, and so enlarges his 
sphere of conscious conviction. 

It is suggested that the time ordinarily spent in Bible study be de- 
voted this week to a thoughtful, prayerful examination of personal expe- 
rience, and to the statement in writing of what are discovered to be 
fundamental personal religious convictions. 

It seems undesirable to indicate any list of topics to be taken up in 
order in this statement of convictions. Each man naturally begins 
with that which happens to be the most real to him, and works out 
from that to other convictions which stand related in his experience to 
this central conviction. In general the question to be steadily asked is, 
What do I feel reasonably sure of about myself, about God, about my 
fellow men ? 

It is helpful to bear in mind that a reasonable certainty does not 
necessitate mathematical demonstration. We are almost always called 
upon to act in accordance with a preponderance of probability. In a 
case where one of two or more courses of action must be chosen, we 
are under obligation to choose that which has the balance of probabil- 
ity in its favor, even though we cannot prove by a mathematical dem- 
onstration that it is the best. 

It is also true that we do not limit our theories of life to what we 
have at the present moment found to be true in our own experience. 

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Studies in the Teaching of "Jesus and His Apostles 



No good scientist ignores the results that have been obtained in the 
laboratories of other reputable investigators. Oftentimes he adopts 
them, acts in accordance with them, and so makes them his own. In 
like manner we also take account of the religious experience of other 
men. Particularly in the Bible we find reports of religious experience 
that have great weight with us. 

Such a statement of convictions, if read in a Bible circle, ought not 
to be regarded as a theological statement submitted to the criticism of 
others, but simply as a personal testimony to which others may listen 
and to which they in turn may add their own personal testimony. 



215 



Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles 



Study XXX.— C^e £HacipIe eijoomnff In* life Work 

It is also natural at the close of a course of study like the present 
one to consider the principles in accordance with which a disciple of 
Jesus Christ, who shares Jesus Christ's purpose and outlook, should 
choose his life work. It is recommended that the time usually devoted 
to Bible study be devoted this week to a thoughtful, prayerful considera- 
tion and statement of these principles. The following propositions are 
suggested as those that ought to receive attention, among others, in 
such an investigation : 

(i) Anything that will contribute to the welfare of men God 
wants some man to do. Agriculture, commerce, invention, literature, 
and all the multiplying occupations of modern civilization, are of God, 
in so far as they contribute to the welfare of men ; and God calls men 
to each of them. 

(2) No matter what occupation the disciple of Jesus selects, his 
supreme concern is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, learning from 
Him to be a true son of God and a true brother to his fellow men ; 
and to induce as many others as he can to be the same. This purpose 
is not peculiar to one or two professions but characterizes all disciples. 
Telephones, steamships, literature and art are valuable incidental features 
of civilization, but there can be no lasting civilization unless brotherly 
men possess the earth. 

(3) The disciple ought to choose that occupation in life in which 
he can in the long run be most effective in inducing his fellow men to 
become true sons of God. The man with marked linguistic gifts, who 
works for years on a Chinese dictionary, may in the long run be far 
more effective in bringing men into discipleship than he would be if he 
dropped his dictionary-making and became professionally a preacher of 
the gospel. 

A disciple's dominant motive for entering upon a business career 
should be the conviction that, as a business man, he can do most to 
establish the civilization of God's Kingdom on earth. The disciple 
cannot enter upon a business career because it promises him money, an 
elegant home, a steam yacht, and frequent opportunities for travel 
abroad; nor upon the practice of the law because it promises him a 
large income and an entrance into political life, any more than the dis- 
ciple can choose the ministry because it promises social position, a large 
church, a good salary, and a long summer vacation. No disciple has 
a right to choose any life work selfishly. He has to remember that he 
is a son of an unselfish Father. 

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Studies in the Teaching of jfesus a?id His Apostles 

(4) Ordinarily it is the thing which a man is fitted by nature to 
do best that God calls him to do. The fact that God has endowed 
him with marked ability to do a certain thing well is ordinarily an ex- 
pression of God's will regarding him. 

(5) Sometimes, however, in an emergency something is so much 
needed that the disciple ought to do it, although he could do some- 
thing else that happens to be less needed with a higher degree of pro- 
fessional success. 

(6) If there are several things that the disciple, so far as he can see, 
could do equally well, he can look to God for special direction and ex- 
pect to find it in the shaping power of circumstances or in some steadily 
deepening conviction. 

In any case, if he chooses his life work conscientiously and does his 
best in it after he has chosen it, keeping always uppermost the consider- 
ation mentioned above in the third paragraph, he is sure of a successful 
life, even if there be more or less of failure in his profession. He will 
have chosen like a disciple of Jesus, like a son of God, like a member of 
the Holy Brotherhood, like a man who realizes that he is starting upon 
an endless life and means to start right. 



217 



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